Randy Johnson’s six best seasons in illustrious career
By Tim Boyle
Hall of Fame pitcher Randy Johnson had a career no pitcher after him may ever match. He finished with 303 career wins, 100 complete games, and ranks second to only Nolan Ryan in career strikeouts with 4,875 punchouts.
The “Big Unit” was one-of-a-kind. Few pitchers in history compare to Johnson in terms of sheer dominance. Looking back on a career that spanned over two decades, here are his six best seasons.
6) 2000 – The 2000 season marked Johnson’s second with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He went 19-7 with a 2.64 ERA along with a league-leading three shutouts and eight complete games. For the third time in his career, Johnson struck out over 300 batters. One new high he did set was 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. (Note: This mark did not last long).
This was also the season where Johnson eclipsed 3,000 career strikeouts. To put things into perspective, John Smoltz only had 3,084 strikeouts in his entire career. Johnson pitched for another nine seasons after he reached this mark.
The year ended appropriately with Johnson winning the National League Cy Young Award – the third of five Cy Youngs he won during his career.
5) 1999 – One year earlier, 1999, the tall left-hander made his debut with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Coming off a season split with the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros, Johnson was ready to bring his heavy slider to the desert.
Johnson went 17-9 with a league-leading 2.48 ERA. The southpaw also led the league with 12 complete games and a staggering 364 strikeouts.
Once again, the year ended with Johnson winning the National League Cy Young Award – beginning a streak of four straight years in which he won pitching’s top honors in the league.
4) 1997 – Overlooked because Roger Clemens was even better than Johnson this season, 1997 was still a very good for Johnson.
Coming off an injury-shortened 1996 season, Johnson was back with the Seattle Mariners in 1997 ready to go 20-4 with a career-low 2.28 ERA over 213 innings of work. His 6.2 hits per nine also marked a new career-best for the “Big Unit.”
In spite of a great final full season with the Mariners, Clemens earned the Cy Young Award that year, going 21-7 with a 2.05 earned run average with the Toronto Blue Jays.
3) 1995 – In a season shortened because of the player’s strike which began in 1994, Johnson made the most of his 30 starts. Johnson went 18-2 with a 2.48 ERA. He nearly reached 300 strikeouts for the second time, ending the year with 294.
Arguably his best year with the Mariners – although one could argue the 1997 season was pretty good – Johnson ended it by winning the lone American League Cy Young Award of his career. This award was also the first of the aforementioned five Cy Young Awards Johnson brought home during his career.
2) 2002 – The 2002 season for Johnson was most notable for setting a career-high in wins with 24. In addition to that, his 2.32 ERA was at its lowest since the 1997 season.
Johnson struck out 334 hitters in 2002 on his way to unanimously winning his fourth-straight Cy Young Award and the fifth of his career.
1) 2001 – Although the 2001 season was not his best statistically in some areas, it was the best for strikeouts. Johnson struck out a career-high 374. Since 1900, only Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax had seasons where they had more strikeouts than Johnson did in 2001. Pitching in 249 2/3 innings, he set a career-high, averaging 13.4 strikeouts per nine.
After a great regular season, Johnson’s biggest achievement would come in the postseason. Johnson went 5-1 in the 2001 playoffs while pitching a pair of shutouts. He had a 3.38 ERA in the NLDS, 1.13 ERA in the NLCS and a minuscule 1.04 ERA in the World Series.
The World Series was where Johnson shined the most, going 3-0 in two starts and a relief appearance. He would end up sharing MVP honors with teammate ,who also appears on the Hall of Fame ballot this year.
And as you may have guessed, Johnson won the National League Cy Young Award along with his first and only World Series ring.