If I had told you that the Braves, a team with a very rich history of starting pitching, hadn’t produced two starters with 200 strikeouts in the same season since before the turn of the 20th century — would you believe me? Well, Charlie Morton may change all of that in his next start:
Charlie Morton finished last night with nine strikeouts, so he’s only six away from 200. Kyle Wright and Max Fried are both hovering around 160 Ks, which is a lot lower than I anticipated. I assumed one of those guys would be close enough to get Atlanta to potentially having three guys with 200 strikeouts.
With guys like Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz dominating year after year — it’s surprising this feat hasn’t been accomplished before. When Maddux struck out 204 men in 1998, Smoltz only had 173 and Glavine had 157. When Smoltz sat down a jaw-dropping 276 men in 1996, Maddux only notched 172 and Glavine finished with 181. Things never lined up for those guys, but Strider and Morton have a chance to make Braves history.
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