More Tuesday Trivia: LHP best seasons by WAR

[BobbyStrawberry]

Who had the 10 all-time best single seasons by left-handed pitchers according to BRef WAR?

I'm going by the version of WAR that doesn't consider their hitting.

(Try to guess, rather than looking it up, of course.)

[cgjackson222]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Who had the 10 all-time best single seasons by left-handed pitchers according to BRef WAR?

Let's get the obvious ones out of the way first--Steve "Lefty" Carlton, Lefty Grove, and Sandy Koufax.

[jayshum]

Clayton Kershaw?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by jayshum

Clayton Kershaw?

Good guess but Kershaw does not make the list..

I guess I might as well give a hint here: Carlton's season is the most recent of the top ten.

[cgjackson222]

Spahn?

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Spahn?

Another good guess but Spahn doesn't make it either. His best season (1947) is tied for #29 on the list.

[jayshum]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

Good guess but Kershaw does not make the list..

I guess I might as well give a hint here: Carlton's season is the most recent of the top ten.

I guess that's not surprising. Because of the huge number of innings they used to pitch, most of the really high WAR seasons for pitchers are pre-1900.

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by jayshum

I guess that's not surprising. Because of the huge number of innings they used to pitch, most of the really high WAR seasons for pitchers are pre-1900.

This leads me to another hint:

Five of the remaining six seasons on the list were in the 19th century. The other one happened in the 20th century and this person is a HOFer...

[BobbyStrawberry]

Originally Posted by cgjackson222

Let's get the obvious ones out of the way first--Steve "Lefty" Carlton, Lefty Grove, and Sandy Koufax.

OK, great start.

Carlton is #3 (1972)
Grove is #8 (1936)

Koufax, believe it or not, is just outside the top ten: his best season (1963) is tied for #12.

That's two down, eight to go...