I agree that Denny McLain is the last 30 game winner major league baseball will ever see. In 1968, Denny started 41 games (completed 28 of those) in a 4 starter pitching rotation. The game has changed so much that starters pitchers only get 35 or so starts in a season. Even if a starter was removed after 5 innings with his team leading, it is unlikely that the team would hold the lead in enough games to give the starter 30 wins. The most starts in a season since 2000 is 36 by Halladay and Maddux in 2003. The last pitcher to get 40 starts in a season was Charlie Hough in 1987.
The pitchers to come closest to 30 wins after 1968 was Steve Carlton with 27 in 1972 when he was a machine with 41 starts, 30 complete games, 310 K, and a 1.97 ERA, and Bob Welch in 1990 with 27 wins in 35 starts when the A's won 103 games and finished 9 games ahead of the second place White Sox. In fact, no pitcher has won as many as 27 games since Welch did it 30 years ago.
McLain's feat sometimes gets overlooked, but I suspect the answer to the question: "Who was the last major league pitcher to win 30 or more games in a season?" will never change.
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