With Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinal recording his 200th win in one of the last starts of his career, a question arises. Who will be the next MLB pitcher to reach this milestone?
Certain players like Houston’s Justin Verlander (255 wins) and Texas’ Max Scherzer (215 wins) have already surpassed this milestone, with some of them doing it this season like Clayton Kershaw (209 wins) of the LA Dodgers.
The two closest “active” players to 200 wins are Cole Hamels (163 wins), who has officially retired, and Johnny Cueto (144 wins) whose career seems to be coming to an end. With that in mind, the most realistic answer is none other than New York’s ace Gerrit Cole.
Cole just turned thirty-three years old and currently has 143 total wins. He could potentially surpass Cueto and reach 145 wins by the end of this season. He has consistently been one of the league’s most efficient pitchers, making him one of the most successful.
He’s had multiple seasons with 15 or more wins, including a 20 win season with the Astros back in 2019 and a 19 win season with the Pirates back in 2015.
Cole has been a top pitcher in baseball for nearly 5-6 years now and has shown no signs of slowing down with the Yankees. Although his ERA has gone up, he has won plenty of games with New York making his case for AL Cy Young each season, possibly winning one this year.
In his four seasons with the Yankees Cole has earned 49 total wins and counting. He won 7 games during the 2020 shortened season, followed by 16 wins in 2021, 13 wins in 2022, and currently has 13 wins this year.
If he keeps up this pace and plays for at least 5 more years he will easily become the next 200 game winner in the MLB.
“I definitely think Cole can be the next guy to reach 200 wins, but I think he’ll need more support from the team around him in the future. This year he was the only good and consistent Yankee pitcher and he struggled to get run support in a lot of his starts,” says Michael Beck, a young Yankee fan from Commack.
Love him or hate him, it’s undeniable that Cole is a winner. He’s been a crucial player for the Yankees even in this disappointing season. As of now, he holds a 13-4 record with an American League leading 2.81 ERA, along with 208 strikeouts proving to be a bright spot on this poor Yankees team. Keep an eye out for Cole for the rest of the year as he looks to tack on a few more wins before the season comes to an end.
