If you had one game to win....who would be your starter...

[Moose Milligan]

Past and present, who would you pick?

Right now, I'd be tempted to pick Beckett as much as it pains me to say it.

Best big game pitcher of all time? Hard to say who I'd want out there. Maybe Bob Gibson, maybe Whitey Ford. I know there are others I'm forgetting.

[Tank]

Now: Johan Santanna

Ever: Warren Spahn

[Mark Carver]

Sandy Koufax in 8 postseason games (7 GS) of 57 innings, has a 0.95 ERA, 36 H, 11 BB, 61 SO.

BTW, interesting -

Josh Beckett in 8 postseason games (7 GS) of 57.2 innings, has a 1.87 ERA, 29 H, 12 BB, 62 SO.

[mweb]

Now: Beckett

Ever: Maybe Koufax although I think he's very overrated, he was money in the playoffs. Grove or Walter Johnson would be great as well.

[Sports Guy]

Right now?

Beckett or Pettitte

All time?

Names like Gibson and Koufax make sense to me.

[RShack]

Past and present, who would you pick?

Right now, I'd be tempted to pick Beckett as much as it pains me to say it.

Best big game pitcher of all time? Hard to say who I'd want out there. Maybe Bob Gibson, maybe Whitey Ford. I know there are others I'm forgetting.

Now (as in "this minute"): Beckett

All time: Koufax (in his prime). With an elbow full of cortisone, looped on painkillers, and without enough rest, he did amazing things in some of their down-to-the-wire pennant races.

[mweb]

Right now?

Beckett or Pettitte

All time?

Names like Gibson and Koufax make sense to me.

Pettitte's career postseason numbers: 14-9, 3.96 ERA. 218 IP, 139 K's, 60 BB's. I don't think he's at the top of the current list.

[Sports Guy]

Pettitte's career postseason numbers: 14-9, 3.96 ERA. 218 IP, 139 K's, 60 BB's. I don't think he's at the top of the current list.

He just always seems to come up big.

He may not be at the top of your list but he is at the top of mine.

[RShack]

Ever: Maybe Koufax although I think he's very overrated...

I know it's off-topic, but I can't help it... Why on earth would you think that Koufax is overrated? According to what possible criteria?

[Sports Guy]

BTW, Pettitte has 35 postseason starts...Beckett has like 7.

Over the course of 35 starts, i bet Beckett has 4 or 5 bad starts like Pettitte has had.

[TonySoprano]

Ever? Koufax, but remember he was beaten by a young Jim Palmer. Palmer would also be on my list.

[Camden_yardbird]

Now: Beckett

Ever: I once hear a story about Dizzy Dean, but his numbers aren't great.

Don't know that you can beat Gibson.

Year   Round Tm  Opp WLser  G   GS   ERA   W  L SV CG   IP   H   ER  BB  SO+------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+1964   WS    STL NYY     W   3   3   3.00  2  1  0  2  27    23   9   8  31 1967   WS    STL BOS     W   3   3   1.00  3  0  0  3  27    14   3   5  26 1968   WS    STL DET     L   3   3   1.67  2  1  0  3  27    18   5   4  35 +------+-----+---+---+-----+---+---+------+--+--+--+--+-----+---+---+---+---+ 3 World Series      2-1   9   9   1.89  7  2  0  8  81    55  17  17  92 

Source: Baseball Reference

That is just sick.

[scOtt]

Babe Ruth. Still holds World Series pitching records.

EDIT: found it... 3-0 with a 0.87 ERA as a starting pitcher, including a run of 29 2/3 straight scoreless innings.

[scOtt]

Holy crap! 1916 WS. 1 Game, 1 complete game, 14 innings, 6 hits, 1 ER.

[Moose Milligan]

Babe Ruth is an excellent pull.

Maybe 10 years ago I'd say Pettite but if I had to say TONIGHT I'd look for someone else.

And yeah, Bob Gibson was nasty.