Unusual things in the title race

After the 2008 season ended, I was sorting through various records and noticed something unusual. It was something unusual with regard to individual titles for both batting and pitching. Now, let me write about the strangeness of the titles for both batting and pitching.

(A) Batting titles

I noticed that in the eight years from 2001, when the 21st century began, to 2008, no player had been the batting average leader for two consecutive years in major league baseball. To be more specific, in the nine years from 2000 in the National League and in the eight years from 2001 in the American League, no player had been the batting average leader for two consecutive years. Some people may ask whether that is strange, but it really is strange. Since the modern Major League Baseball began in 1901 (the beginning of the 20th century), there had only been one time in the 20th century where no player had been the batting average leader for two consecutive years in a span of eight years in the major leagues: from 1932 to 1939. More specifically, there was a 14-year period from 1926 to 1939 in the National League, and an eight-year period from 1932 to 1939 in the American League, where no player was the batting average leader for two consecutive years.

In both of these eight-year gaps, there were excellent hitters. For example, in the 20th century gap, there were Paul Waner and Jimmie Foxx. In the 21st century gap, there were Ichiro, Joe Mauer, and Barry Bonds. The five players mentioned here were the batting average leader twice during the eight-year gap, but it was just not consecutive. There are two possible reasons why no player had been the batting average leader for two consecutive years despite the existence of such excellent hitters. First, there were many excellent hitters, and the competition for the batting title was fierce. Second, there was no super-excellent hitter who could overwhelm the excellent hitters. These two reasons are essentially the same.

In the past, both leagues had amazing players who dominated the batting average title for many years. Rogers Hornsby was the batting average leader in the National League for six consecutive years, and Ty Cobb was the batting average leader in the American League for nine consecutive years. It may be that such players will never appear again, though we cannot say for sure that they will never appear again.

Portrait of Ty Cobb (on display at the Ty Cobb Museum in Royston, Georgia)

By the way, the gap in the 20th century ended after eight years when Joe DiMaggio, who was the batting average leader in the American League in 1939, also became the batting average leader the following year in 1940. However, in the National League, no player had been the batting average leader for two consecutive years for 25 years until Stan Musial became the batting average leader for the second consecutive year in 1951.

So what happened during the gap in the 21st century?  In 2009, Joe Mauer became the batting average leader in the American League for the second consecutive year, ending the eight-year gap. However, in the National League, the gap continued for 19 years until Christian Yelich became the batting average leader for the second consecutive year in 2019.

(B) Pitcher titles

Actually, this is the main topic of this article. I realized that something was happening regarding pitcher titles that had never happened before in the long history of modern Major League Baseball. In the 10 years from 1999 to 2008, there was no pitcher who won the most wins title in two consecutive years in Major League Baseball. More specifically, in the 13 years from 1996 to 2008 in the National League, and in the 10 years from 1999 to 2008 in the American League, there was no pitcher who won the most wins title in two consecutive years. There were pitchers who won the most wins title twice in these 10 years, but not consecutively. Brandon Webb won twice in the National League, and Curt Schilling won once each in the National League and the American League.

In the past, there were pitchers who won the most wins title for many years. For example, Pete Alexander won the most wins title in the National League for four consecutive years, and Walter Johnson won the most wins title in the American League for four consecutive years. It may be that we will never see another pitcher like that again. We can't say for sure that we will never see another pitcher like that, though.

Large photograph of Walter Johnson at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum

By the way, what happened after this 10-year gap?  In 2010, CC Sabathia won the most wins title in the American League for the second consecutive year, ending the gap after 11 years. After that, Max Scherzer won the most wins title in the American League for two consecutive years in 2013 and 2014.

But here lies the biggest problem. In fact, the gap in the National League has continued for a long time. In other words, from 1996 to 2024, there was no pitcher who won the most wins title two years in a row for 29 years. Since the beginning of modern Major League Baseball, there has probably never been such an amazing turn of events in terms of individual titles.

So, over these 29 years, has the National League had many excellent pitchers, but no exceptionally good ones? Is that the reason why the competition for the most wins title was so fierce? I think that may be true, but I don't think that's the only reason. This is because there was an exceptionally good pitcher who won the best ERA and most strikeouts titles two years in a row.

During those 29 years, Randy Johnson won the best ERA title two years in a row, in 2001 and 2002, and Clayton Kershaw won the best ERA title four years in a row, from 2011 to 2014. As for the most strikeouts title, Curt Schilling won it two years in a row in 1997 and 1998, Randy Johnson won it four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, Tim Lincecum won it three years in a row from 2008 to 2010, Max Scherzer won it three years in a row from 2016 to 2018, and Jacob deGrom won it two years in a row from 2019 to 2020.

Although the National League has had such outstandingly talented pitchers, there has been no pitcher who has won the most wins title two years in a row for a long period of 29 years. I can think of only one reason for this.

The titles for best ERA and most strikeouts can be won solely by the pitcher's ability, but the title for most wins is not. It depends on the runs scored by both the team and the opponent. In other words, there are aspects that cannot be controlled by the pitcher's ability alone. I think this is the reason why no pitcher has won the most wins title two years in a row in the National League for 29 years, but if that is the case, then the scoring ability of the teams in the National League was much more even than that of the American League for 29 years. Can we really say this?

If anyone else can think of a reason why no pitcher has won the most wins title two years in a row in the National League in 29 years, I'd love to hear it.

( If I’ve made a mistake or left out something important, please let me know. I’ll try to make corrections or additions.)