Re: Irrational Exuberance

"Mark Anderson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> That said, although the Cubs pitching was better in 1984

Was it really?  The staff ERA in 1984 was 3.75, which put them at 10th in
the NL (if I'm reading this page
correctly -http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/CHC/1984.shtml, although
that doesn't seem right).

This year's staff has an ERA of 3.83 and is ranked 3rd in the NL.  And
there's no doubt that the team ERA was inflated by the likes of Estes,
Wellmeyer, Sanchez, and Mitre, none of whom are on the playoff roster.
Granted, the latter 3 only accounted for 38.0 innings pitched, but Estes
managed 152 1/3!

The regular season total ERA for our starting pitchers (Wood, Prior,
Zambrano & Clement) is 3.20.  In 1984, the regular season total ERA for the
playoff starters (Sutclife, Trout, Eckersley, Sanderson) was 3.09.  I don't
really feel like calculating that for the bullpens and such, but I think
this year's starting rotation is at least as good as 1984's.