Highest Achieved Scores
The highest game score for a nine-inning game in the history of baseball was Kerry Wood's one-hit, no walk, 20-strikeout shutout performance for the Chicago Cubs against the Houston Astros on May 6, 1998. His game score was 105 (50 + 27 + 10 + 20 – 2).
Higher scores have been accomplished in extra-inning games. Harvey Haddix scored a 107 for the game in which he took a perfect game into the 13th inning. Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn scored 112 and 97, respectively, during a complete game 16-inning match up. In their famous 26-inning duel from 1920, Joe Oeschger scored 149 and Leon Cadore scored 141.
The lowest game score in baseball history was Allan Travers' 26-hit, 24-run start for the Detroit Tigers on May 18, 1912. His game score was a negative: -52. This performance only came about because the regular Tiger players staged a strike in protest of Ty Cobb's suspension. To avoid a forfeit, local college players (including Travers) were enlisted as impromptu fill-ins. The lowest game score since 1957 was Oakland pitcher Mike Oquist's, who allowed 16 hits and 14 earned runs in 5 innings on August 3, 1998, for a negative score: -21.
The game score concept expands on Major League Baseball's official definition of a quality start. MLB defines a quality start as 6 or more innings pitched while allowing 3 or fewer earned runs. The game score system defines a quality start as a game score above 50.
The advantage that the system has over the official definition is that it allows a statistician a better view of the degree of quality in a pitcher's performance. Game scores can be quantified, and a pitcher's performance tracked over time. It is also possible to compare different pitchers. If one averages a 60 and another averages 55, presumably the first pitcher has had a better season.
It is also possible to have a quality start under the game score system that would not qualify officially.
In terms of high scores, the system favors current pitchers. It is difficult to achieve a very high score in a game without amassing a substantial number of strikeouts. In earlier eras, even for the very best pitchers, strikeouts were less plentiful. For instance, Cy Young's two no-hitters earned scores of just 90 and 88 due to their low strikeout totals (3 and 2, respectively).
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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