The 2012 Major League Baseball season is nearing the
All-Star break. It has been an
entertaining first half of the season so far, especially if you are a fan of
great pitching.
There have been five no-hitters thrown so far this year, two
of those were from the National League (Johan Santana and Matt Cain), while two
more were from the American League (Jared Weaver and Phil Humber). The other no-hitter was provided during
interleague play by a bevy of Seattle Mariners (Kevin Milwood, Charlie Furbush,
Stephen Pryor, Lucas Luetge, Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmson).
Five no-hitters so far this year is two more than all of
last year and one less then 2010—the supposed “year of the pitcher.” The year 1884 is the true record holder for
most no-hitters in a year with eight.
Since then the most dominant stretch of pitching excellence was in the
years 1990 and 1991 when seven no-hitters were thrown in each of those
years. A forty-four year old Nolan Ryan,
the Texas flame thrower who
frequently exceeded speeds with his fastball of over 100 mph, pitched a
no-hitter in each of those years. Those
were the same years that my favorite team, the Atlanta Braves, a team that came
to be known for its great pitching, began their run of excellent play.
Just because there have been five no-hitters thrown already
this year, and we’re not yet at the All-Star break, doesn’t mean that the 1884
record is likely to be broken. Arms tend
to tire near the end of July as the heat of summer and number of innings
pitched begins to take its toll on a starting pitcher. Even if a new record were to be set, there
will be no fireworks, no tickertape parade, and no trophy. It is not an individual or team achievement
and therefore it would not be celebrated as such.
Future generations will marvel that in the live-ball era
(when hitting home runs was supposed to be easier) pitching was the most
impressive aspect of the time. With all
the great young arms coming into the game, even if the 128-year-old record were
to fall it may very well be broken again much, much sooner than that.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves here—there is still the
second half of the season to go. With so
many surprising teams in contention this year (Baltimore and Washington to name
a couple), it is shaping up to be a memorable season with or without such a
longstanding record falling.
