Pedro Martinez's 1.74 ERA during the 2000 season puts into context just how much he dominated during his prime.
His ERA was three runs lower than the 2000 major league average ERA (4.76) and almost two runs better than Roger Clemens' 3.70 mark, which ranked second best in the American League behind Martinez's that season.
Even more stunning about Martinez's 1.74 ERA: 2000 marked the height of the Steroid Era when offensive statistics were at their true peak. The 5,693 home runs hit league-wide that year marked the most ever in one major league season.
The league-wide average .782 OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) and 5.14 runs per game also were the highest they ever were during the Steroid Era.
But all that offense didn't matter when Martinez took the mound.
The electric righthander recorded 10 or more strikeouts in 15 of his 29 starts. He held opponents to 0 or 1 runs in 17 starts on his way to winning his third Cy Young award in four years.
He led the American League in ERA, shutouts (4), strikeouts (284), ERA+ (291), WHIP (0.74), fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.3), fewest homers per nine innings (0.7) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.8).
That's dominance at its best.
The great Martinez will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y. on Sunday. He is just one of 11 pitchers in the game's history to have been named on 90 percent of the election ballots.
Based on that, the argument could be made he's one of the 11 greatest pitchers of all time.
But it's not that simple. At the All-Star Game, Hall of Fame starting pitcher Sandy Koufax was named one of the four best living players along with Hank Aaron, Johnny Bench and Willie Mays.
Koufax received 86.9 percent of the Hall of Fame vote in 1972. Koufax was picked over great pitchers Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Steve Carlton, Jim Palmer, Martinez and Tom Glavine — all of whom are living and were named on 90 percent or more of the Hall of Fame ballots during their first election years.
So let's dig deeper into how Martinez statistically compares to the other great starting pitchers in this game's history and how the most dominant stretch of years during his career compares with the other greats in their prime.
