Mets Player Retrospective - Tom Seaver 1970

Tom Seaver followed up his first Cy Young with what appeared to be a slightly disappointing campaign. At least using some of the traditional measures, he won eighteen games, but he lost twelve. His ERA jumped over half a point to a still respectable 2.82 and his WHIP inched up slightly from 1.039 to 1.077. Using some of the more modern statistics though, Seaver actually had a slightly better, or at least equal season then he did in 1969. He topped his career best 40 Runs Saved Above Average in 1969 with 43 in 1970 (with one more start) and his neutral win/loss was 20-10, just slightly below his 1969 mark of 22-10.

In addition, Seaver set a new career high for strikeouts in a season. His 283 strikeouts led the National League, and it was a full 75 better then his previous best season. He also led the league for the second straight year in ERA+ with 142 and he set current career highs in complete games (19) and innings pitched (290 2/3, which would be his best ever).

Seaver also had what could have been the best game of his career. On April 22, 1970, Tom Seaver gave up only two hits and he struck out what then tied a record 19 batters. Only Steve Carlton had achieved this total in a nine inning game. Seaver struck out ten batters in a row (the final ten), which is a record that still stands to this day.

He followed this up on May 15, 1970 with a one hit shutout in which he struck out fifteen batters. In eleven of his starts, he struck out ten or more.

Seaver finished seventh in the Cy Young despite having more strikeouts then all of them and a better WHIP then each player ahead of him except Ferguson Jenkins. He also had more RSAA (43 vs. 40) then that year's winner, Bob Gibson.

Here's a look at Tom Seaver's 1970 stats:

Wins 18
Losses 12
Games 37
Games Started 36
Complete Games 19
Innings Pitched 290 2/3
Hits 230
Runs 103
Earned Runs 91
Walks 83
Strikeouts 283
ERA 2.82
Runs Saved Above Average 43
Shutouts 2
H/9 7.12
BR/9 9.82
SO/9 8.76
BB/9 2.57
SO/BB 3.41
Neutral Wins 20
Neutral Losses 10