from Amazon
Friday, February 19, 2010
Greatest pitching duel of all-time
Bill James is starting with the 1980s, and proposes:
1. September 11, 1985, New York at St. Louis (Dwight Gooden against John Tudor)
This was Gooden’s next start, five days after the duel with Valenzuela.
You may be wondering why we started this with the 1980s. We started it with the 1980s because, in the 1980s, it is clear what the right answer should be. This game is hard to beat.
With Gooden starting against Tudor, that was not only the best starting pitching matchup of the decade, but the best regular season starting pitching matchup that was possible during the decade.
Good Bill James article overall, using numbers to help get to an answer, while the real point of the article is to highlight the non-number aspect of the game.