In one of the greatest seasons ever, Pedro Martinez was “unlucky.”

That’s right, my friends.  Pedro Martinez overcame the odds, and put up one of the greatest seasons of all time, without the aid of a helpful BABIP. 

In 1999, Martinez posted an ERA+ of 243, falling in at 9th all time between Mordecai Brown’s 1906 campaign and Walter Johnson’s astounding 1912 season.

Pedro’s season was one of the better ones that we have seen…ever. 

But balls in play were not friendly to the former Red Sox “Ace.”  They fell in at a clip of .343– something that one would not expect–given how great the surrounding numbers were that year.  

And the defense was good behind Pedro as well.  According to Defensive Efficiency, the Red Sox finished tenth in turning “balls in play” into outs. 

Yet Pedro did not benefit from this.  He didn’t benefit from any of it.  Balls just fell in behind him, and he was still about as incredible as one will ever see.

None of Greg Maddux’s greatest seasons were like this.  Maddux always had low BABIP’s, and never had to overcome what we refer to as luck.  Although, maybe that was due to the near-fact that Madduz probably had more control on balls in play than any pitcher in the history of the game.

Roger Clemens never had any problem with this either.  In Clemens’ greatest individual years, the BABIP was always manageable.  And the power pitcher never had to overcome “bad luck” as Pedro did, at least not in his historically great seasons.

So Martinez still had a better season than most pitchers will ever have, even though the odds were against him.  In a sense that “luck” was out to get him. 

Of course, the fact that Martinez was straight nasty and maybe the best ever, had a lot to do with how the difference was made up. 

And things did even out the next year.  When Pedro recorded another of the greatest seasons of all time, with an ERA+ of 291.  That year, Pedro had a BABIP of .253.

But within the context of that one season, 1999, it is remarkable that the end result could be so great, when the odds are so much against one. 

And those “odds” were against Pedro.