Kansas City Royals All Time Starting Rotation

Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

2. Bret Saberhagen (1989)

Early in his career, Bret Saberhagen was known for several things, not the least of which was his strange tendency to have mediocre performances in even numbered seasons and dominate in odd numbered years. It truly was bizarre how that trend came about.

In the mid to latter 1980’s, Saberhagen was one of the better pitchers in baseball. He won two Cy Young awards, despite not making the All-Star team in either of those seasons. Saberhagen even appeared in the top ten in the MVP ballot twice and won a Gold Glove award during that time.

For all of the dominating seasons that Saberhagen had, his 1989 season may have been the best of them all. Somehow snubbed from being an All-Star again, Saberhagen proceeded to produce a 23-6 record with a 2.16 ERA and a 0.961 WHiP. He led the American League in wins, ERA, WHiP, complete games (12) and innings pitched (262.1) that season. The only question about that season is how he lost a first place vote in the Cy Young ballot to Dave Stewart.

Bret Saberhagen had some truly stellar seasons for the Kansas City Royals, but his performance in 1989 was the best of his career. Yet, that was only the second greatest season in the history of the Royals.

Next: The breakthrough