Fate of Mussina Rests in Hands of ... Mussina

Cameron Martin of the tremendous Bugs and Cranks notes an important ramification of Sunday's otherwise meaningless Red Sox-Yankees match: Mike Mussina, NY's starter, sits on 19 wins. His career has the makings of a "Hall of Very Good" stature; he needs all the evidentiary help he can get while he's still performing.

Moose has never won 20 games in a season. It's unlikely he'll be around long enough (two more full, good seasons) to hit 300 wins. Martin argues that, should Moose fail to register a W Sunday in Boston, the oft-silly Baseball Writers Association of American could likely keep Mussina out of the Hall.

With a good, but not great career ERA (3.69), Mussina has an across-the-board resume of Very Good but Not Great accomplishments. In addition to his lack of Cy Youngs and 20-win seasons, he’s never played on a World Series winner; he’s 7-8 with a 3.42 ERA in 23 postseason games; and he has no signature games: No perfect games, no-hitters or Game 7 gems.

He almost pitched a perfect game against the Red Sox in 2001. He’s almost won 20 games several times. And he’s almost won a World Series ring (2001). Right now, he’s Mr. Almost. ... Perhaps I’m not giving enough credit to writers in the BBWAA. Perhaps they’ll be able to understand that winning 19 games three times is pretty damn impressive, and that the lack of one 20-game season doesn’t mean a guy is NOT a Hall of Famer. But I doubt it.

Is one 20-win season really a clincher? Being purposely indignant about all Halls of Fame, I couldn't tell you. But the baseball punditocracy's past obsession with round numbers certainly helps Martin make his point. It goes to show there is always something to play for.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.