I think Bumgarner, as good as he is, is a notch below Kershaw. Same with Scherzer. These dominant types come and go through the years, too, but there are a few pitchers, at most, in each generation who are elite of the elite. Where Kershaw might be this generation's Pedro, Bumgarner and Scherzer are this generation's Mussina.
To answer your direct question, I don't think earning a WS championship is a pre-req for being elite of the elite.
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -- Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)
BillDoran (07-12-2017)
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. -- Carl Sagan (Pale Blue Dot)
Compared to ANYONE. EVER.
His ERA+ of 291 in 2000 just destroys the rest of modern baseball. Greg Maddux in 1994 is the second best ever at 271.
To put that into perspective, Barry Bonds best season ever was only good for a 268 OPS+. He was significantly better than his peers in 2000 than Barry Bonds was in 2002.
Pedro Martinez, playing in a very hitter friendly Fenway, literally could have given up TWICE as many earned runs as he did, and still led the American League in ERA by 0.28.
BillDoran (07-12-2017),nmculbreth (07-11-2017),WrongVerb (07-11-2017)
Walter Johnson
Pedro Martinez
Lefty Grove
Eric Milton
Bob Feller.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
My five:
Walter Johnson
Bob Gibson
Randy Johnson
Pedro Martinez
Lefty Grove
Sandy Koufax
Pedro Martinez
Randy Johnson
Clayton Kershaw
Hunter Greene
“I don’t care,” Votto said of passing his friend and former teammate. “He’s in the past. Bye-bye, Jay.”
OhioRiverBarge (07-12-2017)
OGB (07-12-2017)
Nm
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40
W. Johnson
C. Mathewson
Grove
Clemens
Maddux
All my posts are my opinion - just like yours are. If I forget to state it and you're too dense to see the obvious, look here!
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