Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer’s late-season chase up the all-time strikeout list got me thinking: Are some of baseball’s most meaningful numbers going extinct?

TJ Mathewson and Lyle Goldstein of @BullpenBanterBaseball join me to revisit that chase and figure out which pitching milestones still have a future. Another 300-game winner? A 300-strikeout season? Twenty strikeouts in one game? We rank the achievements we’re least likely to see again. Some feel impossible. Others might surprise you.

Then, what does a Hall of Fame pitcher look like when the old benchmarks are slipping out of reach? We get into Félix Hernández, Jacob deGrom, peak greatness versus longevity, and why one number can never tell the whole story.

Plus, a Simply Irresistible trivia question that leaves my jaw on the floor, a trip through Mariners history, and a game of “The Last to Do It.”

Which pitching milestone do you think we’ll never see again? Let me know in the comments.

Welcome to Episode 027 of REAL DEAL! I’m Tony Reali, and I’m so happy you’re here.

00:00 Verlander, Scherzer and baseball’s disappearing numbers

01:10 Bullpen Banter joins REAL DEAL

02:16 The strikeout chase that started this conversation

04:37 Could today’s pitchers ever catch them?

07:00 Tony’s Félix Hernández argument with Kornheiser and Wilbon

08:20 Simply Irresistible: Matching two legends’ strikeout totals

11:02 Bullpen Banter nails the answer

12:21 Naming the season’s 200-strikeout pitchers

13:27 Does 3,000 strikeouts still mean immortality?

15:05 How the baseball trivia obsession began

15:55 The Mariners teams Tony envied

18:18 Ranking the pitching milestones we may never see again

19:26 Could one pitcher strike out 20 in a game?

20:29 Will we ever see another 300-game winner?

21:03 Complete games and the end of the 300-inning season

23:22 Félix Hernández and the changing Hall of Fame standard

24:24 Peak greatness versus longevity

25:36 Jacob deGrom’s Hall of Fame case

26:12 Who gets in after Verlander, Scherzer and Kershaw?

28:20 The Last to Do It: Pitching trivia

32:28 Bullpen Banter’s REAL DEAL gifts

33:29 Tony’s final thought: Why the numbers matter

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