2015 NL cy young

an all-but-unhittable spitter

I was thinking about Stewart as A's got him off waivers, he was literally on baseball's garbage pile. Not many times you get a guy off waivers that ends up anchoring your rotation like he did for that club back then.

I do see your comparison in broad outline--reclamation project, emerges at age 30 as the ace of a mini-dynasty. It's more a question of magnitude. Stewart wasn't all that different a pitcher before and after the A's got him:

1978-85 (Dodgers/Rangers/Phillies): 3.96 ERA, 1.356 WHIP, 1.55 K/BB
1987-90 (his four 20-win seasons): 3.20 ERA, 1.241 WHIP, 1.96 K/BB

('86 was split between the Phillies and A's, and I'm too lazy at the moment to manually add in those partial seasons.)

Obviously a better pitcher, and credit to the A's for seeing what other teams missed. But Arrieta's turnaround is much, much more dramatic.

2010-12 (Orioles): 5.33 ERA, 1.451 WHIP, 1.79 K/BB
2014-15 (Cubs): 2.08 ERA, 0.915 WHIP, 3.53 K/BB

(Same split-season in the middle of that.)

Arrieta's 2014-15 K/BB ratio should read 4.53.

Someone asked if Scherzer has had the best season that will not get a single point in the Cy voting.

he'll probably get a few. Cy ballot has 5 spots, and by fWAR he's in 3rd (leapfrogging Greinke last night) and 4th by bWAR.

but yeah, crazy to have a season with 2 no-hitters (and a 1-hitter and a 2-hitter), strong performances otherwise, and not even be in the conversation

his previous start he had a no hitter going into the eighth inning.