Schilling: A Post-Season Appreciation
Posted by Craig Brown on Monday, March 23, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Since Curt Schilling announced his retirement today, the debate can begin in earnest. Is Schilling worthy of enshrinement into the Hall of Fame?
Schilling was clearly a great pitcher and no doubt deserves serious consideration. I’ll put a little more time and effort into his candidacy later this week, but for now I’d like to focus on one aspect: October.
Does performance in the playoffs and World Series impact a player’s Hall of Fame resume? Although post season performance often elevates a player in the eyes of fans, it’s rare that, given the opportunity, a great player doesn’t perform at a high level in the playoffs. It’s part of what makes them great. Sure, Alex Rodriguez has been vilified for October chokes, but would something like that keep him out of Cooperstown? Of course not. (Apparently, there are a few other issues he’ll have to overcome. It is worth noting that he’s hitting .315/.413/.611 in three League Championship appearances.) Take away the outside issues for just a moment and A Rod is a no doubt Hall of Famer.
Then what to do with players who didn’t play at all in the post season? Ernie Banks is perhaps the best known Hall of Famer who played his entire career without logging a playoff or World Series at bat. Banks was obviously great enough to overcome the misfortune of never appearing in the playoffs or the World Series. And the fact the league championship series came into existence the last three years of his career kept his opportunity at a minimum.
Post season play isn’t a huge factor in determining someone’s candidacy and bad play or lack of appearances have never eliminated a worthy Hall of Famer. But does quality post season play help? It certainly can’t hurt because these are the appearances that become the stuff of legend. Do you think Schilling would allow Red Sox doctors to suture his ankle together for a May start against the Baltimore Orioles?
It’s for that reason the post season absolutely matters and Schilling was among the best post season pitchers of his generation.
He appeared in 12 post season series throughout his career, starting 19 games. His overall record stands at 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA with a strikeout rate of 8.1 K/9 and a walk rate of 1.7 BB/9. He helped his teams wins in 10 of those 12 series including three World Series titles.
From Schilling’s page at Baseball Reference, here’s how everything breaks down by series:
| Series | IP | ERA | H | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LDS | 38.2 | 0.93 | 31 | 4 | 6 | 33 |
| LCS | 46.2 | 3.47 | 40 | 18 | 9 | 44 |
| WS | 48 | 2.06 | 33 | 11 | 10 | 43 |
| TOTAL | 133.1 | 2.23 | 104 | 33 | 25 | 120 |
What’s most impressive was the fact that in four of his post seasons starts, his team was facing elimination and Schilling helped his team to victory in all four. Let’s look at those starts.
It was the fifth and final game of the NLDS and Schilling took the mound against Matt Morris of the St. Louis Cardinals. Schilling threw 121 pitches, 86 of them for strikes as the Diamondbacks won 2-1 on a Tony Batista single in the bottom of the ninth inning. Schilling went the distance, allowing a JD Drew home run in the eighth for the Cardinals only run of the game.
His final line:
9 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 SO
Schilling helped bring the only World Series title to the Valley of the Sun with a 3-2 victory against a Yankee team that famously wouldn’t quit. It was his third appearance in that World Series, but his final performance (along with that of co-MVP Randy Johnson) is the one that sticks in the mind. He had allowed only one hit through the first six innings and had faced the minimum thanks to Paul O’Neil getting thrown out at third trying to stretch his double into a triple.
However in the seventh and part of the eighth, Schilling faltered, allowing four hits and two runs. Tino Martinez tied the game at one in the top of the seventh and Alfonso Soriano put the Yankees ahead with a home run leading off the eighth. By the time manager Bob Brenley came out for the ball, Schilling was gassed.
His final line:
7.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO
The Bloody Sock.
Schilling had opened the ALDS against the Anaheim Angels and aggravated an ankle injury fielding a chopper. With the injury, Red Sox fans were fearing the worst. And in his first start of the ALDS against the Yankees those fears became reality as he lasted just three innings and allowed six runs.
But thanks to some nifty suturing, Schilling’s tendons in his ankle were basically stapled into place, which allowed him to pitch seven innings of one run ball as the Red Sox pushed the Yankees to a game seven. The injury limited his power and deception, but he maintained his pinpoint control, throwing only 32 balls among his 99 pitches. The Yankees could only touch him for a Bernie Williams home run in the seventh.
His final line:
7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO
October 20, 2007
Just like in ’04, Schilling was hammered in his first start of the ALCS going just 4.2 innings and surrendering five runs on nine hits. And just like in ’04, he rebounded to hold the opposition at bay to force a game seven.
This time, the opponents were the Cleveland Indians. Schilling allowed a home run to Victor Martinez leading off the second, but that wasn’t a huge deal considering JD Drew opened the Red Sox scoring with a grand slam in the bottom of the first. Schilling wasn’t as dominant as he had been in his past elimination games, but he was able to stay out of trouble. It certainly helped that the Sox followed Drew’s grand slam in the first with a six-run third to effectively put the game out of reach.
His final line:
7 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO
That gives Schilling an impressive 30.1 innings pitched when his team was facing elimination with an ERA of 1.78 in those games with 27 strikeouts and just one walk. Money.
Schilling’s final post season performance was a game two start in the 2007 World Series against the Colorado Rockies. His body was breaking down at that point (he spent time on the shelf with tendonitis in his shoulder) but he still managed to go 5.1 innings allowing only one run as the Sox won the game 2-1.
Fitting that his final post season start was also the final start in his career.
