To be honest, I haven't really written about the game itself since I wrote up the 10th anniversary celebration post all those years ago. And while I did do my customary viewing of this game for the anniversary, I don't think I saw it since I watched it last year. I did go and watch the Texas Stars play in the conference finals for the Calder Cup, which is about the only hockey that I can watch since the Dallas Stars were eliminated in humiliating fashion.
Anyways, this is the time when I stop and take stock at how things are going on with the Big Unit himself and the world of baseball as a whole, especially with tracking the ten winningest active pitchers to see if anybody has any sort of chance of getting to 300? How is the news this year? Well you'll have to read on to find out.
Randy Johnson is out there living his best life as usual. He is still living life as a photographer, and even though he doesn't have a high profile position photographing the Masters like his former teammate Ken Griffey Jr., he's doing what makes him happy. He recently took a trip out to Japan, which he has visited multiple times before, and he is starting to list some items in a merch store. It includes such things as as T-shirts and caps that feature his photography logo (of a dead bird) Yet the most significant is a coffee table book called "Experiencing Africa" which includes photographs from his many travels to Africa. Needless to say I got one, and you can even get one signed!
Speaking of autographs, he is still going out and supplementing his income by signing his name for desperate baseball fans like me! Unfortunately, he did not take the trip to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction that I went to last July, but I was still able to get his autograph on several of my 300th win merch through an autograph by mail system. I guess there was some risk sending those items out, but they were able to come back and now I have a bunch of items celebrating Randy Johnson's 300th win signed by the man himself.
As for how things are going with me, well there's a lot in the air, but there's a good possibility that this may be the last time I am celebrating Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day in Texas, as my parents are really ushing me to go back to Virginia. Which wouldn't be an issue, other than my attachment to the sports teams around here. But they are not getting any younger. I guess I can go ahead and leave it at that.
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And now we get to the most damning part of the post, where we look at the ten winningest active pitchers and see if there is any hope for any of them getting to 300 wins, where active is defined as a pitcher being signed to a Major League organization, even if they are only on a minor league contract. There is some good news in that we did have an influx of pitchers getting their 100th win. There are now 18 active pitchers with 100 wins, the most since there was also 18 in 2021. The problem is, a lot of the pitchers that reached 100 wins aren't quite at the top 10, and the pitchers that are in the top 10 are in various levels of productivity. In fact, let's take a look at each of them to see how they had done in the past year.
Yu Darvish (110) had been on the Injured List at this time last year, but he returned in September, winning three times in five starts. Then he developed elbow inflammation and has been on the Injured List all season. Now the San Diego Padres are saying that his injury may be worse than he is letting on.
Kyle Gibson (112) was nearly ineligible for this list. He was mostly mediocre in the rest of the 2024 season but still won four games to finish at 8-8 with a 4.24 ERA. He became a Free Agent and sat around waiting for a contract before getting one from his former team the Baltimore Orioles late in spring training. He made a few starts in the minors before being called up and making four starts, where he was absolutely rocked. He went 0-3 and had a 16.78 ERA. The Orioles DFA'd him and eventually released him, which would make him inactive, but the Tampa Bay Rays snatched him up a week later. He's made one start so far for AAA Durham which went okay.
Carlos Carrasco (112) continued his mediocre pitching for the rest of the 2024 season as he went 1-5 with a 5.63 ERA to end the year 3-10. He was still signed by the New York Yankees and has made a few starts, but he remained mediocre at 2-2 with a 5.91 ERA and was also DFA'd was sent to AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre. He made one start in the minors before being recalled as the Yankees dealt with injuries to their bullpen, but then they DFA'd him again a day later without him getting into a game, and who knows if he'll get released.
Sonny Gray (117) was just off the top 10 with only 105 wins last year after a hot start that saw him go 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals. He wasn't quite as dominant afterwards, going only 6-6 with his ERA rising to 4.28, but he ultimately finished at 13-9 with a 3.84 ERA. He's continued to do well with the Cardinals, now at 6-1 with a 3.65 ERA.
Charlie Morton (140) was up and down for the rest of the 2024 season and finished the season 5-8 with a 4.38 ERA, putting him at 8-10 with a roughly average 4.19 ERA. It wasn't anything spectacular, but the Orioles made him their marquee free agent signing of the summer. He was miserable in Baltimore, at one point going 0-7 with a 9.78 ERA before being relegated to the bullpen. He pitched okay in a relief role and reclaimed his spot in the rotation, and won his last two starts. Perhaps the 41-year-old is turning a corner?
Chris Sale (141) finished off the 2024 season going 10-2 with a 1.96 ERA allowing him to complete a Triple Crown season where he went 18-3 and a 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts. That allowed him to win his first Cy Young after several near-misses. His 2025 hasn't been quite as successful in 2025 thanks to the difficult start for the Atlanta Braves but he's climbed back to 3-4 with a strong 2.93 ERA, and he did get his 2,500th career strikeout, doing so in fewer innings than even Randy Johnson, who had reached the milestone in his 0-1 loss to Jose Jimenez and his no-hitter. Randy was also 35, a year younger than Sale is now, and he already has 152 wins.
Gerrit Cole (153) came back from his injury about two weeks after Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day and pitched decently, going 8-5 with a 3.19 ERA, during which he won his 150th game. And then he got injured and required Tommy John surgery so he'll be out for all of 2025.
Clayton Kershaw (212) made his 2024 season debut in July, about six weeks after Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day. He made seven starts where he went 2-2 and a 4.50 ERA before getting shut down due to a toe injury, just 32 strikeouts away from 3,000 in his career. He had surgery on his knee and toe and didn't return until late May. Since then he has made three starts, where he's not had a decision with an uncharacteristic 5.17 ERA. And now he's 24 strikeouts from 3,000.
Max Scherzer (216) made his 2024 debut in late June, about three weeks after Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day. He made made nine starts where he went 2-4 and a 3.95 ERA before getting shut down due to a hamstring strain. He signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and made one start before getting shut down due to a thumb injury.
Justin Verlander (262) was shut down due to neck pain in his next start following Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day, during which he allowed four runs in six innings against the Los Angeles Angels in a no decision. That kept him out until late August. And how did things go after that? Well...let's go through each one of his starts one by one.
- August 21 - pitched decently against the Boston Red Sox, allowing two runs in five innings, but Cooper Criswell and an army of relievers held the Houston Astros to one run as he suffered a loss in a 1-4 defeat.
- August 27 - allowed four runs in five against against the Philadelphia Phillies, not good especially as Aaron Nola shut out the Astros for seven innings in a 0-5 loss.
- September 2 - suffered his third straight loss after allowing five runs against the Cincinnati Reds where he couldn't even finish the fifth as the Astros fell 3-5 to match his record.
- September 8 - got bombed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, allowing eight runs in just three innings of work in a mortifying 6-12 loss where he suffered another fourth straight defeat.
- September 14 - held the Angels to only two runs in five innings in a rematch from June. Houston did provide some run support against Tyler Anderson and the bullpen held strong to earn him Win #261!
- September 20 - Another rematch against the Angels ended poorly, as the Astros staked him to a 7-3 lead after four innings, but he bombed in the fifth and couldn't finish the inning to qualify him for the win. He ended the day allowing six runs in 4.2 innings and had to settle for a no-decision in a 9-7 win.
- September 28 - Allowed three runs in six innings against the Cleveland Guardians, but Houston scored four runs in the first two innings against Ben Lively. He pulled through with his longest start since Randy Johnson's 300th Win and the bullpen did the rest as he earned Win #262!
So including his start prior to his IL stint, Verlander went 2-4 with a 7.98 ERA, a far cry from his 3-2 record and 3.63 ERA that he had put up prior to Randy Johnson's 300th Win. It was the type of ugly finish that he couldn't afford to have, not at his advanced age. With a final line of 5-6 and a 5.48 ERA that was his highest since his two-start cameo in 2005, he was predictably left off of the Houston postseason roster. A look at the Baseball Savant percentile rankings showed whatever positives he had going into Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day had completely evaporated, besides an avoidance of walks, barrels, and hard-hit balls.
His reputation still preceded him, and he inked a deal with the San Francisco Giants, the same team that signed Randy Johnson for his 300th win. I went to spring training this year and saw Verlander's first spring start during which he looked pretty good. But it was a new year, and let's see how each of his starts shook out.
- March 29 - Making his season debut against the Reds in the second game of the season, the Giants staked him to a 2-0 lead by the third, but he gave that up on a home run in the bottom of the inning, and a two-out double and single in the fifth tied the game, which ended in a no-decision as his day ended after that.
- April 4 - Facing the Seattle Mariners, Verlander allows a home run in the top of the first, but San Francisco comes back with a run in the bottom of the inning and two more in the second. Armed with a 3-1 lead, Verlander proceeds to allow three singles while walking two and exiting with the bases loaded and the game tied. The bullpen prevented any further damage as the Giants won 10-9 on a walk-off, but Verlander's three runs in 2.1 innings was still fairly ugly.
- April 9 - Verlander faced off against Cincinnati once again, and they pounded him for five runs in the third inning. San Francisco manager Bob Melvin kept the veteran in, and he pitched into the sixth before allowing a sixth run. The Giants clawed back to win 8-6, but Verlander now had a 6.92 ERA.
- April 14 - Verlander allowed two runs in the second against the Philadelphia Phillies, but San Francisco took the lead with two runs in the fourth and one more in the sixth, Instead of going to the bullpen, Melvin let Verlander come out for the sixth, and he was knocked around for four singles to put him behind 3-4. There was no comeback for the Giants this time as he was saddled with the loss.
- April 20 - Another faceoff against the Angels came possibly the most heartbreaking result for Verlander. He allowed a home run in the bottom of the fifth after getting a lead in the top of the inning, but his offense prompted added two more runs in the sixth and another one in the seventh. Verlander got through the sixth to complete his best start as a Giant, and had a 4-1 lead going to the bottom of the ninth. Yet closer Ryan Walker came in completely fell apart, allowing Los Angeles to come back and walk it off 5-4, leaving Verlander with a crushing no-decision.
- April 25 - Against the Texas Rangers and their offense which turned out to be one of the worst in the Majors, Verlander allowed solitary runs in the third and the sixth, the latter of which was unearned. Yet San Francisco could not solve the 2023 World Series hero Nathan Eovaldi, and Verlander found himself 0-2 despite another strong start.
- May 1 - Verlander pitched into the seventh inning all season for the first time in this start against the worst team in baseball in the Colorado Rockies, allowing runs in the third and the seventh. Melvin removed him with one out in the seventh, and he watched as the bullpen blow the lead once again in a 3-4 loss.
- May 6 - Another difficult finish for Verlander as he allowed three runs in five innings against the hard-hitting Chicago Cubs but the Giants had scored five runs, and his bullpen held firm with the 5-3 lead going into the bottom of the ninth. Yet once again Walker completely fell apart and watched the lead evaporate. Then to rub salt on the wound San Francisco scored nine runs in the 10th as they cruised to a 14-5 win.
- May 12 - Verlander faced off against the Diamondbacks for the first time since the annihilation on September 8, and he was much better, allowing only two runs in six innings of work. However, the Giants were held to only one run as he suffered his third loss.
- May 18 - Verlander took in his first Battle of the Bay (which wasn't exactly that anymore with the A's moving to Sacramento) and once again allowed only two runs albeit in just four innings of work before having to exit due to a pectoral strain. He was in line for yet another 2-1 loss until San Francisco rallied for two runs in the eighth.
After that, the pectoral strain that drove him out of the start against Oakland early put Verlander on the Injured List, where he remains today. He has resumed throwing, but there is still no word as to when he will make his return. It's been a weird season for Verlander. He had a string of three starts in May where he was absolutely awful, but take out those three starts and he has a 3.05 ERA. More concerning of course is his strikeout and walks number. His best strikeout game of the season was in one of those three awful starts, and removing those three games gives him just 29 in 38.1 innings, and given his 13 walks his 2.23 strikeout to walk ratio is far from his norm. And a look at his Baseball Savant Percentile Rankings is even more dire
All of the red from avoiding hard contact and walks is completely gone, and the only stat where he is even at 60th percentile is his offspeed run value. Who's to say that Justin Verlander won't come back after this stint on the Injured List and dominate to the tune of 10 wins in his remaining starts, and continue to receive opportunities to pitch until he turns 48? But either way he's got fewer wins in the past year than Kyle Gibson, and that can't be good.
Either way we still have the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishment of one guy that did get to 300 wins, the great Randall David Johnson!
Happy Randy Johnson's 300th Win Day!
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