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Jarrod Washburn, 2002
Stats: 18-6, 3.15 ERA, 206 IP, 139 SO, 141 ERA+, 3.71 FIP, 1.175 WHIP
Awards: Cy Young (finished 4th)
Baseball Reference WAR: 4.5
FanGraphs WAR: 4.2
Combined WAR: 4.35
Jarrod Washburn spent eight seasons with the Angels. His best season with the club came in 2002, where he finished 4th in A.L. Cy Young Award voting.
Overall, it was a career-year for Washburn. He finished with career-highs in essentially every category, including wins (18), ERA (3.15), strikeouts (139), ERA+ (141), FIP (3.71), WHIP (1.175) and SO/BB (2.36). As I mentioned, his dominant season didn’t go unnoticed as he finished fourth in Cy Young voting behind Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez and the winner, Barry Zito.
For Washburn, he was ironically a lot better on the road than at Angel Stadium. On the road, Washburn went 13-3 with a 2.65 ERA, compared to 5-3 with a 3.79 ERA at home. He also allowed fewer walks and hits on the road as well.
He finished the year on a high note, as the Angels won four of his final five starts. His ERA was 1.93 for the month of September, while opponents hit just above .200 against him.
Washburn did struggle in the postseason for Anaheim. He made five starts, posting an ERA of above five. Opponents had an OPS of .827 against him. The Angels went 2-3 in the games he started. Luckily, it didn’t matter, as they ended up winning the World Series.
Game of the year
July 3 vs. Baltimore: 8 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 7 SO // Gamescore: 82