The Phillies' big four are as good as any in baseball history. Consider their competition. The 1969 Miracle Mets had the great Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Gary Gentry, but their fifth starter was Don Cardwell, who finished 8-10. The 1972 Orioles had Jim Palmer, Mike Cuellar, Pat Dobson and Dave McNally, all of whom had ERAs under 3.00, but Dobson and McNally had losing records. The 1971 Oakland A's had a great 1-2 in Vida Blue (24-8, 1.82, 301 strikeouts) and Catfish Hunter (21-11, 2.96), but Chuck Dobson and Diego Segui were just fairly good.
The only rotations that can be talked about in the same breath as the 2011 Phils were the 1954 Indians, who won 111 games with Bob Lemon (23-7, 2.72), Early Wynn (23-11, 2.73), Mike Garcia (19-8, 2.64) and Bob Feller (13-3, 3.09). Their other starter, Art Houtteman finished 15-7, 3.35. And, of course, the Atlanta Braves. In 1995, the year they won it all, Greg Maddux was phenomenal (19-2, 1.63); Tom Glavine and John Smoltz were very good; but Steve Avery was 7-13, 4.67. The best year for the Braves' rotation was 1998, when Maddux (18-9, 2.22) Glavine (20-6, 2.47) and Smoltz (17-3, 2.90) all excelled and their fourth and fifth starters were very, very good (Kevin Millwood, 17-8, 4.08; and Denny Neagle 16-11, 3.55).
So the '54 Indians and the '98 Braves are the gold standard. I believe we will exceed them, with Joe Blanton having very solid numbers.
