2001 - 17-11, 3.05 ERA
As shocking as it will sound, the Atlanta Braves were - AGAIN - the best pitching staff in the National League in 2001. Yes, despite the stellar years of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling on Arizona, the Braves had the better OVERALL STAFF. Atlanta's two main starters (Maddux and Glavine) were a combined 33-18, while the four alternating starters the Braves threw behind the Big Two (John Burkett, Jason Marquis, Kevin Millwood, and Odalis Perez) were 31-33; the starters behind Arizona's Big Two (Miguel Batista, Brian Anderson, Albie Lopez, Robert Ellis) were 25-29. The Atlanta bullpen even had four MORE SAVES than the D'backs despite winning four fewer games. Atlanta was still dealing with the fallout from the decline of John Rocker after his ill-fated and racist interview with Jeff Pearlman. But John Smoltz was moved to become the closer on August 23, 2001, and it enabled the Braves to finish as the best staff in the NL and revived the career of the former CYA and NLCS MVP winner.
Greg Maddux's 2001 looks a lot like his 2000 season, but his record is worse. Compare the numbers:
2000 - 19-9, 3.00 ERA, 190 Ks, 6 CG, 3 SHO, 249.1 IP, 91 R, 4.37 RS
2001 - 17-11, 3.05 ERA, 173 Ks, 3 CG, 3 SHO, 233 IP, 86 R, 3.82 RS
His run support dropped half a run per game - and it flipped his record to two more wins that became losses. Maddux began 2001 with a 23-inning scoreless streak.
April 21 - Maddux trails, 2-0, after six when an error leads to two more runs and a loss to the Phillies, 4-1
April 26 - taking the mound with a 3-0 lead, Maddux gets bombed, 7 runs in 5.1 innings as Arizona clobbers the Braves, 13-6.
May 2 - Maddux wins a 1-0 complete game 2-hitter against the Brewers on a BJ Surhoff homer
May 8 - a run here, a run there as San Diego pecks away at Maddux for 6 runs in 6 IP and a 7-1 loss.
May 13 - Maddux gets off to a bad start and allows 3 first-inning runs to the Dodgers, but he holds serve the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the Braves can't hit Luke Prokopec in his 7th career start nor can they hit those immortals Mike Fetters and Jeff Shaw in a 3-1 loss.
May 18 - Maddux leaves a 4-4 tie after 7. Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th thanks to Barry Bonds's 17th home run (in this year of 73), the Braves first tie it on a rally then win on a wild pitch by Rob Nen that scores Dave Martinez from third.
May 25 - Maddux wins ANOTHER 1-0 complete game, this time against the Pirates and Todd Ritchie
May 30 - Maddux holds Montreal to two runs in 8 innings; unfortunately for him, errors by Rafael Furcal and Brian Jordan give the Expos two more runs. Trailing 4-3, the Braves have the tying run on second and winning run on first when Javy Lopez lines out to right to end the game.
June 15 - Maddux has begun pulling a Tom Glavine, getting hit for runs in the first and then shutting teams down. Boston bats through in the first but only gets 3 runs, leaving the bases loaded. Atlanta pulls Maddux after 7 with a 5-3 lead. Boston notches single runs in the 8th and 9th before four singles and a Chipper Jones error lead to a 4-run tenth in a 9-5 Boston win.
At this point, Maddux wins his next eight starts to lift his stats to 17-7, 2.86 ERA. On the same day, Randy Johnson is 17-6, 2.45 ERA on a better team while Curt Schilling is 18-6, 2.94 ERA.
August 27 - Maddux pitches well, giving up 1 run and striking out 7 in 7 innings, leaving with a 2-1 lead. But the bullpen again blows the game, when Mike Remlinger gives up a three-run bomb to Gary Sheffield in the 8th, and Atlanta loses, 4-2.
At this point, Maddux has four losses that even with minimal good luck should have been at least three wins.
September 1 - Julian Tavarez pitches less well than Maddux but wins, 5-3.
September 7 - Maddux gives up only two hits, one of them a 2-run bomb to his former teammate Fred McGriff, and leaves trailing the Cubs, 2-1, for a pinch-hitter in the 7th. Atlanta ties the game, taking Maddux off the hook, and they win it in the 9th on an Andruw Jones solo shot.
September 17 - after an extended rest due to the 9/11 attacks, Maddux stays in one batter too long and Scott Rolen takes him deep for a 3-2 Phillies lead. Philly wins, 5-2.
September 23 - Maddux is pulled only 2 batters into the game due to a hyperextended elbow; with the postseason on its way, Cox doesn't want to take any chances. One of the baserunners he leaves on scores, but Atlanta ties it to remove a potential loss from his record. Mets win, 7-3.
On August 22, Maddux was a viable Cy Young contender, although his best hope was Schilling and Johnson splitting the ballot. But in his last 7 starts, Maddux was 0-4 with 3 no decisions, an injury, and a 3.86 ERA. In those 7 starts, he only got 8 runs of support as well. But Maddux did not even crack the top five in the CYA vote:
1) Randy Johnson - 21-6, 2.94 ERA, 372 Ks
2) Curt Schilling - 22-6, 2.98 ERA, gave up a league leading 37 home runs
3) Matt Morris, 22-8, 3.16 ERA
4) Jon Lieber, 20-6, 3.80 ERA
5) Roy Oswalt, 14-3, 2.73 ERA
Johnson was a deserving Cy Young winner and, in all honesty, Schilling shouldn't have been 2nd, but back then the guy with the most wins usually got it. Schilling got 5.15 runs per game of support compared to 3.82 for Maddux; flip their run support and Maddux wins the CYA in 2001, too. Roy Oswalt was a rookie in 2001 who came up on May 6 and didn't become a full-time starter until June 2 (which is why his W/L totals are so low). But he also had 6.25 RS, which hurt him with the voters. Matt Morris tied Schilling for the league lead in wins, but he also had 5.71 RS; go look at the rest of his career overall and he's a .500 pitcher (take away 2001 and he's 99-84). And Jon Lieber was the same, a .500 career pitcher who caught lightning in a bottle for one season. Even Lieber got 5.44 RS.
I'm not saying this to diminish ANYONE, but even in 2001, Greg Maddux was AT WORST the third best starting pitcher in the National League. We can argue over Schilling, but if you flip their run support and even their ballparks, Maddux wins 24-25 games and Schilling wins 16-17. The 2001 Atlanta Braves were the THIRD WORST offense in all of baseball, better only than Montreal and Pittsburgh. Nearly all of their offensive categories, Atlanta was not only BELOW AVERAGE but WELL BELOW. The one thing they did well hitting was they didn't strike out as often as other teams. They were third in the league in grounding into double plays despite a batting average four points below the league average and 32 points less than leader Seattle. None of the other teams who were as BAD getting on base as the 2001 Braves was even a pennant contender.
What the Braves DID do well was pitch (led NL in ERA with 3.59), and their fielding was above average.
2001 Greg Maddux was still one of the best pitchers in the league; indeed, he led baseball with fewest walks per 9 IP. He wasn't the CYA winner by a longshot, but he was still very good.
As shocking as it will sound, the Atlanta Braves were - AGAIN - the best pitching staff in the National League in 2001. Yes, despite the stellar years of Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling on Arizona, the Braves had the better OVERALL STAFF. Atlanta's two main starters (Maddux and Glavine) were a combined 33-18, while the four alternating starters the Braves threw behind the Big Two (John Burkett, Jason Marquis, Kevin Millwood, and Odalis Perez) were 31-33; the starters behind Arizona's Big Two (Miguel Batista, Brian Anderson, Albie Lopez, Robert Ellis) were 25-29. The Atlanta bullpen even had four MORE SAVES than the D'backs despite winning four fewer games. Atlanta was still dealing with the fallout from the decline of John Rocker after his ill-fated and racist interview with Jeff Pearlman. But John Smoltz was moved to become the closer on August 23, 2001, and it enabled the Braves to finish as the best staff in the NL and revived the career of the former CYA and NLCS MVP winner.
Greg Maddux's 2001 looks a lot like his 2000 season, but his record is worse. Compare the numbers:
2000 - 19-9, 3.00 ERA, 190 Ks, 6 CG, 3 SHO, 249.1 IP, 91 R, 4.37 RS
2001 - 17-11, 3.05 ERA, 173 Ks, 3 CG, 3 SHO, 233 IP, 86 R, 3.82 RS
His run support dropped half a run per game - and it flipped his record to two more wins that became losses. Maddux began 2001 with a 23-inning scoreless streak.
April 21 - Maddux trails, 2-0, after six when an error leads to two more runs and a loss to the Phillies, 4-1
April 26 - taking the mound with a 3-0 lead, Maddux gets bombed, 7 runs in 5.1 innings as Arizona clobbers the Braves, 13-6.
May 2 - Maddux wins a 1-0 complete game 2-hitter against the Brewers on a BJ Surhoff homer
May 8 - a run here, a run there as San Diego pecks away at Maddux for 6 runs in 6 IP and a 7-1 loss.
May 13 - Maddux gets off to a bad start and allows 3 first-inning runs to the Dodgers, but he holds serve the rest of the way. Unfortunately, the Braves can't hit Luke Prokopec in his 7th career start nor can they hit those immortals Mike Fetters and Jeff Shaw in a 3-1 loss.
May 18 - Maddux leaves a 4-4 tie after 7. Trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th thanks to Barry Bonds's 17th home run (in this year of 73), the Braves first tie it on a rally then win on a wild pitch by Rob Nen that scores Dave Martinez from third.
May 25 - Maddux wins ANOTHER 1-0 complete game, this time against the Pirates and Todd Ritchie
May 30 - Maddux holds Montreal to two runs in 8 innings; unfortunately for him, errors by Rafael Furcal and Brian Jordan give the Expos two more runs. Trailing 4-3, the Braves have the tying run on second and winning run on first when Javy Lopez lines out to right to end the game.
June 15 - Maddux has begun pulling a Tom Glavine, getting hit for runs in the first and then shutting teams down. Boston bats through in the first but only gets 3 runs, leaving the bases loaded. Atlanta pulls Maddux after 7 with a 5-3 lead. Boston notches single runs in the 8th and 9th before four singles and a Chipper Jones error lead to a 4-run tenth in a 9-5 Boston win.
At this point, Maddux wins his next eight starts to lift his stats to 17-7, 2.86 ERA. On the same day, Randy Johnson is 17-6, 2.45 ERA on a better team while Curt Schilling is 18-6, 2.94 ERA.
August 27 - Maddux pitches well, giving up 1 run and striking out 7 in 7 innings, leaving with a 2-1 lead. But the bullpen again blows the game, when Mike Remlinger gives up a three-run bomb to Gary Sheffield in the 8th, and Atlanta loses, 4-2.
At this point, Maddux has four losses that even with minimal good luck should have been at least three wins.
September 1 - Julian Tavarez pitches less well than Maddux but wins, 5-3.
September 7 - Maddux gives up only two hits, one of them a 2-run bomb to his former teammate Fred McGriff, and leaves trailing the Cubs, 2-1, for a pinch-hitter in the 7th. Atlanta ties the game, taking Maddux off the hook, and they win it in the 9th on an Andruw Jones solo shot.
September 17 - after an extended rest due to the 9/11 attacks, Maddux stays in one batter too long and Scott Rolen takes him deep for a 3-2 Phillies lead. Philly wins, 5-2.
September 23 - Maddux is pulled only 2 batters into the game due to a hyperextended elbow; with the postseason on its way, Cox doesn't want to take any chances. One of the baserunners he leaves on scores, but Atlanta ties it to remove a potential loss from his record. Mets win, 7-3.
On August 22, Maddux was a viable Cy Young contender, although his best hope was Schilling and Johnson splitting the ballot. But in his last 7 starts, Maddux was 0-4 with 3 no decisions, an injury, and a 3.86 ERA. In those 7 starts, he only got 8 runs of support as well. But Maddux did not even crack the top five in the CYA vote:
1) Randy Johnson - 21-6, 2.94 ERA, 372 Ks
2) Curt Schilling - 22-6, 2.98 ERA, gave up a league leading 37 home runs
3) Matt Morris, 22-8, 3.16 ERA
4) Jon Lieber, 20-6, 3.80 ERA
5) Roy Oswalt, 14-3, 2.73 ERA
Johnson was a deserving Cy Young winner and, in all honesty, Schilling shouldn't have been 2nd, but back then the guy with the most wins usually got it. Schilling got 5.15 runs per game of support compared to 3.82 for Maddux; flip their run support and Maddux wins the CYA in 2001, too. Roy Oswalt was a rookie in 2001 who came up on May 6 and didn't become a full-time starter until June 2 (which is why his W/L totals are so low). But he also had 6.25 RS, which hurt him with the voters. Matt Morris tied Schilling for the league lead in wins, but he also had 5.71 RS; go look at the rest of his career overall and he's a .500 pitcher (take away 2001 and he's 99-84). And Jon Lieber was the same, a .500 career pitcher who caught lightning in a bottle for one season. Even Lieber got 5.44 RS.
I'm not saying this to diminish ANYONE, but even in 2001, Greg Maddux was AT WORST the third best starting pitcher in the National League. We can argue over Schilling, but if you flip their run support and even their ballparks, Maddux wins 24-25 games and Schilling wins 16-17. The 2001 Atlanta Braves were the THIRD WORST offense in all of baseball, better only than Montreal and Pittsburgh. Nearly all of their offensive categories, Atlanta was not only BELOW AVERAGE but WELL BELOW. The one thing they did well hitting was they didn't strike out as often as other teams. They were third in the league in grounding into double plays despite a batting average four points below the league average and 32 points less than leader Seattle. None of the other teams who were as BAD getting on base as the 2001 Braves was even a pennant contender.
What the Braves DID do well was pitch (led NL in ERA with 3.59), and their fielding was above average.
2001 Greg Maddux was still one of the best pitchers in the league; indeed, he led baseball with fewest walks per 9 IP. He wasn't the CYA winner by a longshot, but he was still very good.
