was reading a bill simmons article that made a case for verlander as mvp this year, and it got me thinking - what is the best pitching year of all time? is it pedro martinez' 1999? he went 23-4 with a 2.07 era, pitching his home games in one of the better hitters' parks in the game, and played in the stronger league with the dominant yankees in his division. his FIP was an absurd 1.39, which was more than 3 runs below the league average. for the year, he was 80 runs better than average and 100 runs better than replacement. he was worth about 12 wins, according to fangraphs. i don't know if that is the best ever, but it is pretty [expletive] great.