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Boston Red Sox Debate: Pedro Martinez’s best season

By Sean Penney

BALTIMORE - JULY 26: Starting pitcher Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox pitches against the Baltimore Orioles July 26, 2004 at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
BALTIMORE - JULY 26: Starting pitcher Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox pitches against the Baltimore Orioles July 26, 2004 at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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BOSTON, MA – SEPTEMBER 2000: Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox pitching to the New York Yankees in Fenway Park in September 2000 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA – SEPTEMBER 2000: Pedro Martinez #45 of the Boston Red Sox pitching to the New York Yankees in Fenway Park in September 2000 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images) /

2000

18-6, 1.74 ERA, 0.74 WHIP, 11.8 K/9

What would Pedro do for an encore? Oh, just another historically great season.

His 1.74 ERA was the best of his career and is tied for the 15th-best single-season ERA since the dead ball era. He tossed seven complete games, including a major league-leading four shutouts, tying his career-high.

Martinez produced a 0.74 WHIP that stands as MLB’s best in the modern era (since 1900).

While he saw a dip in his strikeout rate, his 284 K’s were still enough to lead the league. The decline in strikeouts was offset by a reduction in walks. His 1.3 BB/9 was the best of his career, leading to a career-best 8.88 K/BB ratio that ranks fifth in major league history for a single season.

ERA+ is a metric that Baseball-Reference uses to scale ERA against the league average to account for the era the pitcher played in and adjusts for ballpark factors. Pedro’s 291 ERA+ in 2000 is the best single-season performance of the modern ERA.

Martinez secured his second consecutive Cy Young and finished fifth in MVP voting.

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