The 5 best seasons by Rangers pitchers

ARLINGTON -- The Rangers are the only American League team to have never had a Cy Young Award winner. They have been far more noted for their great offensive players.

However, Texas has still enjoyed some stellar seasons from its pitchers over the years. Here are the top five.

1. Fergie Jenkins, 1974
This is the season by which all other Rangers pitchers are measured, and there are no comparisons. Jenkins set club records that almost assuredly won't be approached, unless there is a dramatic change back to the way pitching used to be.

Jenkins enjoyed six consecutive 20-win seasons with the Cubs from 1967-72, winning the National League Cy Young Award in '71. Then, he slumped to 14-16 with a 3.89 ERA in 1973 and -- perceived to be headed toward the end of his career -- was traded to the Rangers for infielders Bill Madlock and Vic Harris that October.

Jenkins wasn’t even close to being finished. He started 41 games, pitched 328 1/3 innings and went 25-12 with a 2.82 ERA for Texas in 1974. He also pitched 29 complete games, including six shutouts. He went 5-0 with a 0.60 ERA in five starts against the A's.

The Rangers had gone 57-105 the prior season, before manager Billy Martin led them to an 84-76 record to finish in second place in the American League West in '74. It was a different era for pitching, but Jenkins is in the Hall of Fame for a reason, and this was his best season.

2. Nolan Ryan, 1989
Ryan is also in the Hall of Fame, but that wasn’t guaranteed when he signed with the Rangers during the 1988 Winter Meetings. There were still many who weren’t convinced of Ryan’s worthiness at that point in his career. He held the MLB records for most no-hitters (five) and strikeouts (4,775), but his 273 wins hardly separated him from non-Hall of Famers such as Jim Kaat and Tommy John.

Ryan, at age 42, then had the first of five remarkable seasons with the Rangers that left no doubt about his place in Cooperstown. Ryan made 32 starts, going 16-10 with a 3.20 ERA and a 1.086 WHIP. His 301 strikeouts led the Majors.

Ryan also twice took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before they were broken up. Another memorable moment came on Aug. 22 when he fanned Rickey Henderson for the 5,000th strikeout of his career.

3. Yu Darvish, 2013
The Rangers felt strongly that Yu Darvish would win an AL Cy Young Award in Texas, and he almost pulled it off in 2013. In his second season after coming over from Japan, Darvish went 13-9 with a 2.83 ERA, 1.073 WHIP and 277 strikeouts in 209 2/3 innings. He came within one out of a perfect game in his first start on April 2, giving up a two-out single to Marwin Gonzalez in a 7-0 win over the Astros.

Darvish did not win the Cy Young, though. He finished a distant second place behind Detroit’s Max Scherzer, who won 21 games that season.

4. Kevin Brown, 1992
The Twins won the World Series in 1991, in large part because of starting pitchers Jack Morris, Scott Erickson and Kevin Tapani. Morris is a Hall of Famer, but Erickson and Tapani easily had the best years of their careers in '91.

The Rangers finished in third in the AL West because they didn’t have enough pitching. Bobby Witt, who had pitched brilliantly in winning 17 games the year before, sustained a shoulder injury, pitched in 17 games and had only three wins. Brown won only nine games in 33 starts.

The following season, Brown won 21 games and became the first and only Rangers pitcher to start an All-Star Game. If Witt and Brown could have combined with Ryan to pitch their best in 1991, Texas may have surpassed Minnesota.

5. C.J. Wilson, 2011
Wilson went 16-7 with a 2.94 ERA, 1.187 WHIP and 206 strikeouts as the No. 1 starter on the best club in Rangers history (they went 96-66 and lost in seven games in the World Series).