Pitching Like Greg Maddux

I keep waiting for the Cardinals to decide on what they want to be when they grow up. As I write this, the birds are seven games over five hundred (five ahead of my statistical model). They split with the Cubs series. Swept the Guardians. Then, were handled by the worst team in the division.¹

Hard to say if they’re truly in the hunt; however, the season proved its worth for last Friday night. Sonny Gray tossed one for the baseball gods. He changed speeds, spins, and moved the ball at will—up and down and in and out. Jason Sheridan in Knights of Legend, my baseball opus, didn’t throw this good. Here was the final line: complete game shutout, gave up a single hit, eleven strike-outs, and zero walks.

But here is the kicker, he only threw 89 pitches.

The so-called Maddux, a shutout on less than 100 pitches, is a rarity in the modern age; even rarer when there are this many whiffs. I did a quick search and this hasn’t been done in the last decade (tell me if I’m wrong). Maybe ever, grant MLB only started pitch-count tracking in the 80s. Still, it’s worth a rewatch if you’re an AppleTV subscriber.

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