Consecutive Cy Young Awards Shortlist
Randy Johnson (1999-2002)
When looking at pitcher’s body of work, Randy Johnson is perhaps the most impressive on this list. Not only did he help slay the Yankee monster that had previously won three consecutive World Series championships (1998-2000) while with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001, he also joins Greg Maddux as the only two pitchers ever to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards.
Unlike Maddux, however, Johnson’s presence on the mound was intimidating. Not only does he measure close to 7-feet, but he also featured a fastball that touched over 100 MPH at times. This helped him to strike out 4875 batters in his career, second all-time behind Nolan Ryan.
If we were to take a birdseye view of Johnson’s 22 seasons in MLB, he is one of 24 pitchers ever to win 300 or more games in the history of the game ever to win 300 or more games. Zoom in closer and you’ll find that he is only one of 10 pitchers ever to win 300 games and strike out at least 3000 batters. Even closer now, you’ll see that he is only one of four pitchers ever to win 300 and strike out at least 4000 batters.
That’s some real exclusivity there, and I’m not quite sure that we’ll ever see that level of performance again.