Willie Hernandez
Hernandez pulled off one of the most dominant relief seasons in baseball history in 1984, posting a microscopic 1.92 ERA while becoming the first closer to win both the Cy Young and MVP awards in the same season. That ERA+ of 198 means he was nearly twice as good as the average pitcher that year — remarkable for any pitcher, unprecedented for a reliever.
The Puerto Rican lefty's peak came at the perfect time for Detroit's World Series championship run. His 112 strikeouts that season showed he wasn't just getting lucky with soft contact; he was overpowering hitters in late-inning situations when games hung in the balance.
What makes Hernandez's 1984 truly special is the context: closers rarely commanded MVP consideration in that era, yet he was so dominant that voters couldn't ignore him. His career ERA+ of 115 across 13 seasons proves this wasn't a fluke — he was consistently above average throughout his career.
Career · Hitting
13 seasons| Year | Team | G | AB | HR | RBI | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | CHC | 67 | 16 | 0 | 0 | .063 | .125 | 17 |
| 1978 | CHC | 55 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| 1979 | CHC | 52 | 8 | 0 | 1 | .250 | .625 | 86 |
| 1980 | CHC | 53 | 19 | 0 | 1 | .211 | .474 | 66 |
| 1981 | CHC | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1982 | CHC | 75 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .250 | 35 |
| 1983 | PHI | 74 | 15 | 0 | 1 | .400 | .800 | 112 |
| 1984 | DET | 80 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1985 | DET | 74 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | 0 |
| 1986 | DET | 64 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1987 | DET | 45 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1988 | DET | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| 1989 | DET | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Career | 747 | 63 | 0 | 3 | .206 | — | — | |
Career · Pitching
13 seasons| Year | Team | G | IP | W | L | ERA | ERA+ | SO | WHIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | CHC | 67 | 110.0 | 8 | 7 | 3.03 | 132 | 78 | 1.109 |
| 1978 | CHC | 54 | 59.7 | 8 | 2 | 3.77 | 98 | 38 | 1.542 |
| 1979 | CHC | 51 | 79.0 | 4 | 4 | 5.01 | 80 | 53 | 1.570 |
| 1980 | CHC | 53 | 108.3 | 1 | 9 | 4.40 | 87 | 75 | 1.477 |
| 1981 | CHC | 12 | 13.7 | 0 | 0 | 3.95 | 91 | 13 | 1.610 |
| 1982 | CHC | 75 | 75.0 | 4 | 6 | 3.00 | 128 | 54 | 1.307 |
| 1983 | PHI | 74 | 115.3 | 9 | 4 | 3.28 | 118 | 93 | 1.223 |
| 1984 | DET | 80 | 140.3 | 9 | 3 | 1.92 | 198 | 112 | 0.941 |
| 1985 | DET | 74 | 106.7 | 8 | 10 | 2.70 | 144 | 76 | 0.900 |
| 1986 | DET | 64 | 88.7 | 8 | 7 | 3.55 | 112 | 77 | 1.218 |
| 1987 | DET | 45 | 49.0 | 3 | 4 | 3.67 | 117 | 30 | 1.490 |
| 1988 | DET | 63 | 67.7 | 6 | 5 | 3.06 | 122 | 59 | 1.197 |
| 1989 | DET | 32 | 31.3 | 2 | 2 | 5.74 | 64 | 30 | 1.660 |
| Career | 744 | 1044.7 | 70 | 63 | — | — | 788 | — | |
Matchups, projections, comps — grounded in Lahman, Retrosheet, and Statcast.