Is Hunter Harvey Having THE Greatest Pitching Season of All Time?

It's a loaded question. Hundreds of teams. 136 seasons. Thousands of pitchers, ten of thousands of games. How can you possibly quantify the best individual pitching season of all time?

That was the question posed to Yonkers Renegades manager Greg Hudson in the clubhouse this afternoon moments after Hunter Harvey closed out the Renegades' 8-6 win over the Baltimore Rockets in the 2pm matinee game.

The win was the Gades' 44th of the season, as the Season 98 World Champs look to lock up the top seed in the Ocean Star, still in search of their first-ever League title. The game itself was straightforward albeit never quite comfortable, with Yonkers bats coming to life in the second inning to tune of five runs, overturning a 3-0 deficit after Baltimore plated a trio of runs in the first inning off Renegades starter Freddy Peralta.

The Renegades never looked back, exchanging the odd run but never surrendering the lead, and Peralta turned it over to the bullpen after 7 innings. Setup man Devin Williams surrendered a run in the home eighth to make it a one-run game, but his offense came to his aid in the top of the 9th, tacking on an insurance run which Harvey wouldn't need as he struck out a pair to work around a leadoff double to tally his 16th save on the season.

Innocuous enough, right?

But the press in the clubhouse were buzzing with the greater milestone Harvey's save achieved: his 16 saves, combined with an astonishing 14 wins from the closer role, means Harvey now has a combined 30 wins and saves for Yonkers, out of 44 total team wins. His total number of blown saves and losses? Zero. Add to that an ERA south of 2.8, a WHIP under 1, a batting average surrendered of less than .200 and 5 more strikeouts than hits allowed through the 47 innings he's hurled this season.

That's simply astonishing for the 38-year-old right hander, who entered the season with a career record of 79-39 and only 4 career saves, a respectable but unassuming career in contrast with the sensation campaign he's having this August. Having started the season as the team's setup man, Harvey tallied wins in each of the Renegades' three wins on Opening Day, turning the ball over to veteran closer Drew Thorpe. But Thorpe dropped a pair of contests in the opening days of the season and pitched his was to an early 9.00 ERA, prompting Hudson to shuffle up the bullpen, dropping Thorpe from the front lines and promoting Harvey to the closer role, with Williams assuming 8th-inning responsibilities. That decision has paid for itself several times over, with Harvey delivering on every single occasion when called upon.

But is Hunter Harvey having THE greatest pitching season of all time? Manager Greg Hudson spoked candidly when he fielded the question.

"I don't think there's a reliable metric to measure 'best,' but I think we can agree this is probably the most impactful single season in terms of pitching record that I've ever seen," Hudson said. He's got 14 wins, 16 saves, and he isn't on the hook for any of our defeats. In a 60-game season that's unprecedented to my knowledge, and we've still got seven more games to play in the regular season."

But while Hudson was quick to applaud his team's unexpected star reliever, he was even quicker to point to the numbers that render Harvey's record so significant. The team, at 44-9, is enjoying what could possibly be its winningest season in its more than 50-year history. In those 44 games, the team is 3-0 in extra innings, with Harvey pitching the team to victory with extended innings out of the bullpen in each occasion.

But where the Gades have truly excelled, Hudson explained, has been in close games. Including their three extra-inning triumphs, the Renegades have scored the winning run in the 8th inning or later on 17 occasions. The team's offense, while still formidable, is not the juggernaut it has been in prior seasons, leading to a higher reliance on pitching and late-inning heroics on both sides of the ball.

So has Harvey been getting the Renegades over the line, or have the Renegades been clutch hitters with Harvey on the mound? Turns out it's a bit of both. The Gades' staggering 20-6 record in games decided by 2 or fewer runs would indicate that the team seems to know how to score just enough runs to give Harvey the chance to shut the opposition down to lock up the W.

But when pressed for a definitive answer on Harvey's season, Hudson was coy.

"I'll tell you all what I know Hunter would tell you if you talked to him - he doesn't care about 30 wins+saves, he just wants a ring," Hudson said. "That's the only thing in his mind, and that's all I want him focused on. If he stays in that mindset and we keep winning games, then we've got a real shot."

INTERACTIVE TIME: Share with us the most wins, saves or combined wins/saves a pitcher of yours has ever tallied in a single season? Does it compare to Hunter Harvey's season? Post yours in the comments!