I thought it only fair, after posting yesterday’s article about the worst possible starting rotation in Cubs history, to examine the best single seasons by starting pitchers in the history of the franchise (going back to 1900, via baseball-reference’s database).
These pitchers, and many of these seasons, you are surely familiar with. The criteria used was simple: The pitcher must have qualified for the ERA title in the year in question. Then I simply sorted by bWAR. To make the list a bit shorter, I queried bb-ref’s Play Index for all Cubs starters who posted a bWAR over 6.
There are 35 such seasons in Cubs history, since 1900. Here are the best five, ranked lowest to highest by bWAR.
Jack Taylor, 1902: 34 GS, 333⅔ IP, 23-11, 1.23 ERA, 0.953 WHIP, 206 ERA+, 9.3 bWAR
If you’ve heard of Taylor, who was a workhorse in the first decade of the 20th Century, it’s because this was the season in which he completed every one of his 34 starts, the most starts in a year by any pitcher in Cubs history with zero no-decisions. The 1902 Cubs (not really even the “Cubs” yet, they were unofficially known as “Orphans” then) weren’t very good, finishing 68-69, but Taylor’s 9.3 bWAR as a pitcher led the entire National League. I say “as a pitcher” because Taylor was a good hitter and was used at other positions in 1902, playing in 22 other games and hitting .233/.268/.275 with 18 RBI, the latter number ranking ninth on the team.
Rick Reuschel, 1977: 37 GS, 252 IP, 20-10, 2.79 ERA, 1.218 WHIP, 166 ERA+, 9.4 bWAR
As good as this season was — and Reuschel finished third in Cy Young voting — it actually could have been much better. After finishing off the famous 16-15 win over the Reds July 28, Reuschel was 15-3 with a 2.14 ERA. For some reason Herman Franks started him two days later in Houston, and he got knocked out after two innings. His numbers following July 28 were pretty mediocre: 3.90 ERA, 1.419 WHIP. Still, his overall season was a 9.4 bWAR year, and he added to that by hitting .207 with three doubles, a triple and a home run in 87 at-bats.
Dick Ellsworth, 1963: 37 GS, 290⅔ IP, 22-10, 2.11 ERA, 1.025 WHIP, 167 ERA+, 10.2 bWAR
Just one year after posting a horrific 20-loss season with an ERA north of five, Ellsworth broke onto the national scene at age 23. He led the major leagues with the 167 ERA+, and likely would have won the Cy Young Award if not for Sandy Koufax, who was beginning a fantastic four-year run in which he won three Cy Youngs (and remember, there was only one such award for both leagues in that era).
The 1963 Cubs had the only winning record (82-80) for the franchise between 1945 and 1967. It was mostly due to pitching, as their 578 runs allowed was second-best in the National League to the Dodgers. They scored just 570 runs, which ranked seventh in the league. No Cubs team would allow fewer than 578 runs in a non-labor-dispute season until 2016 (556).
For his part, Ellsworth was probably overworked in 1963; he never again had a season nearly as good.
Fergie Jenkins, 1971: 39 GS, 325 IP, 24-13, 2.77 ERA, 1.041 WHIP, 141 ERA+, 10.3 bWAR
Fergie won his only Cy Young Award in 1971, and some other numbers for him that year were eye-popping: he issued only 37 walks in those 325 innings, leading the majors with a 1.0 BB/9 ratio, and also had a 7.1 K/BB ratio, which lapped the field in the National League (Tom Seaver was second at 4.74). He threw 30 complete games, and had 23 more CG the next year. The most complete games thrown by any Cubs pitcher since then is 12, by Rick Sutcliffe in 1988.
In addition, Fergie had a great year with the bat in 1971. Always a good hitter, he hit .243/.282/.478 with seven doubles, a triple and six home runs that year. That accounted for 1.7 bWAR, just from hitting, to add to his 10.3 pitching bWAR. The six homers set a Cubs franchise record for pitchers in a season, tied by Carlos Zambrano in 2006.
Pete Alexander, 1920: 40 GS, 363⅓ IP, 27-14, 1.91 ERA, 1.112 WHIP, 166 ERA+, 12.1 bWAR
You might remember hearing in 2015, when Jake Arrieta had his fantastic season, that Jake was doing things that hadn’t been done for any Cubs pitcher since Alexander’s 1920 season.
Why didn’t the 1920 Cubs do better than 75-79? Because other than Hippo Vaughn, who had a decent season, the rest of the pitching staff was mediocre-to-bad. Manager Fred Mitchell had to give 24 starts to guys with ERAs over 4, including people named Speed Martin, Sweetbread Bailey and Chippy Gaw, and no, I did not make those names up.
But Alexander’s 1920 season was the best, by bWAR, in Cubs pitching history — 12.1. In fact, that’s tied for the best single-season bWAR by any pitcher in National League history. Steve Carlton in 1972 and Dwight Gooden in 1985 matched it.
In case you are wondering about a couple of significant names who didn’t make this group: Greg Maddux’ 1992 season was next on the list, at 9.2 bWAR ranking just a tick below Taylor’s 9.3, and Jake Arrieta’s 2015 season just after that, at 8.7 bWAR.