…I’d definitely watch that game.
Well, I think you have to take the guy at his peak with that team. The Reds can’t have the Mets’ version Seaver. Tom Seaver was still awesome in Cincinnati, so he’s a very valid choice.
I’m pretty sure Randy Johnson could scare a team full of Satan’s all stars. Where do demons go when they die from a 95 mph fastball to the skull?
I like the additions of Mike Scott (1986, 8.0 WAR) and J.R. Richard (1980, right up until the stroke: 2.7 WAR, but in only 17 appearances; 1.90 ERA, 174 ERA+, 113.2 IP, 0.924 WHIP, 119 K ) to the Astros’s list.
I’d add Roger Clemens’s 2005 season (7.6 WAR, 1.87 ERA, 226 ERA+, 211.1 IP, 1.008 WHIP, 185 K). Just criminal how many wins he was robbed of by the Astros’s abysmal run support. WAR really loves Dierk’s 1969 season (8.5 WAR—single season leader for the Astros, 2.33 ERA, 152 ERA+, 305.1 IP, 1.022 WHIP, 232 K).
As a Brewer fan, I would be tempted to go with either Rollie Fingers or Pete Vukovich, but I’m not sure that the stats are there to back them up.
If I had a hundred guesses I never would have come up with Jaime Moyer as the Mariners all time wins leader. I completely forgot he was in Seattle for a whole 10 years.
Just to pick a fight, I say you have to go Maddux over Spahn. Both wins and WAR are matters of longevity, and the former is also heavily era-dependent. While Maddux didn’t play his entire career for the Braves, his best years (11 of 'em, so it’s not like we’re talking just a handful of great years) were with Atlanta, where his ERA+ far outstripped Spahn’s. His career ERA+ is higher than Spahn’s, too, so it’s not just a peak-year effect. He also had the finest single year by any Brave ever (in terms of ERA+), as far as I can tell.
I don’t quite understand the criteria. Can they have been traded to another team?
If so, the quintessential Marlins pitcher is Kevin Brown, or Josh Beckett if he never had blister problems.
Against Stan’s All-Stars, I would start Orel Hershiser, circa 1988.
I think that Satan would put Tawny Kitaen on his roster for that game, on general principles. 
In fairness, you could also make Spahn the Milwaukee Braves rep, and Maddux the Atlanta rep.
Again I’d have to say there’s more to “quintinessial pitcher” than WAR and wins. The quintissential Mariners pitcher is Randy Johnson; Jamie Moyer had a lot of good years there but Johnson is the guy you think about, the guy who won a Cy Young there and who pitched so heroically in 1995. For the Royals it unquestionably is Saberhagen, who was injured but was so magnificent when healthy and who was the World Series MVP in their magical year.
Maybe I’m just too young to have really appreciated the ‘great’ Clemens years - and on top of that, I’m old enough to remember his tanking at the end of his Sox career, and then his mercenary travels - but I’d go with Pedro for the Red Sox. There were just so many memorable performances while he was in Boston: the Yankees 17K one-hitter, the Gerald Williams one-hitter, the six inning no hit playoff relief appearance, the five Ks in the AS game at Fenway, and on, and on. Then he was on the '04 team on top of that.
Plus, you know, he’d plunk any of Satan’s All-Stars in the ass without thinking twice about it.
Kiros as a lifelong Sox fan, 40 + years, my first glove was a Fred Lynn autograph model, I completely agree.
I’d say “of course” … Seaver was traded to the Reds, but is a no-doubter as the Mets’ iconic pitcher, the guy they’d have a statue of if they didn’t have a statue of Jackie Robinson.
The criteria are personal and emotional, the WAR stuff was just a starting point. For two thirds of these teams I could have pulled most of the (post-20s) names from memory, but for some teams (like the Brewers) no one came to mind, or I couldn’t think of away to narrow it down (like Carlton and Robin Roberts). Hence, wins and WAR as a starting point.
Speaking as a Yankees fan…
I agree that Pedro Martinez’s peak years were better than almost ANY pitcher’s peak years, including those of Roger Clemens.
But since Roger’s peak was mighty good, and he stayed at that peak a lot longer than Pedro (albeit, perhaps, by cheating), I think Roger rates a little higher.
Again, speaking as a Yankees fan…
In his prime, Teddy Higuera’s screwball was a thing of beauty. While he’s no Hall of Famer, he’s definitely the best starting pitcher the Brewers ever had.
And he was ESPECIALLY effective against my Yankees. I don’t know if it ever happened, but at one time, he was poised to break the record for best winning percentage against the Yanks… a record that had previously been held by Babe Ruth!
No argument on that from my end. For his first three or four seasons, in particular, Higuera was pretty amazing.
Unfortunately, the Brewers weren’t that good during most of Higuera’s good years. That’s why, when the OP said, “your team’s iconic pitcher”, my heart goes back to Vuckovich and Fingers, two of the key pitchers during the only really good run (1978-1982) the Brewers had ever had, up until the past few seasons.
For the Twins, I have to go with Bert Blyleven. A case could be made for Frankie “Sweet Music” Viola, but he wasn’t primarily a Twins pitcher. You could go with Kevin Tapani or Brad Radke, but neither of them are inspiring.
Blyleven is in the HOF, and none of the others are. And his post-player career in the broadcast booth with the Twins has cemented his place as an iconic Twins pitcher.
I’d still argue that, as a Twin, Johan Santana was better than any of them.
And remember that Maddux was posting these awesome seasons in the height of the steroid era. So I would argue that for adjusting for context (which, admittedly ERA+ does), Maddux far outstrips Spahn.
Of course any pitcher that causes a catcher to say the best way to catch him is to wait for the ball to stop rolling then walk over and pick it up, as Phil Neikro did to Bob Uecker, has to get some serious consideration as well.