“What if…” is one of the most popular phrases in sports. What if someone was told to swing away? What if the offense runs the ball instead of throwing the ball? What if the player shot a three instead of a two?

 

One “What if…” that few have discussed is “what if Roger Clemens’ career was over after he left Boston?”

 

Dan Duquette, in 1996, said Roger Clemens was in the “twilight of his career.” We all know Clemens has since won four Cy Young awards, reached 300 wins and 4,000 strikeouts cementing himself as a Hall of Fame pitcher and possibly the greatest pitcher of all-time. What would have happened and who would have benefited if Duquette was in fact correct and Clemens career was over after he left Boston.

 

In his first season out of Boston, Clemens may have had his greatest season with the Blue Jays. The Rocket absolutely dominated the AL while going 21-7 with a 2.05 ERA and setting a career high in strikeouts with 292 in 1997. These dominant numbers propelled Clemens back to the premier status he had earlier in his career and helped him earn his fourth Cy Young award.

 

What would have happened if Clemens never pitched for the Blue Jays in 1997?

 

The Blue Jays finished the 1997 season in last place in the AL East and ten games under .500. This poor finished gave them the eighth overall pick in the 1998 amateur draft which they used to pick infielder Felipe Lopez. Without Clemens, the Blue Jays would have finished far worse than ten games under .500 and would have received a higher pick. With this pick they would have had the opportunity to take players like Pat Burrell, Mark Mulder, J.D. Drew and Austin Kearns. Let’s just say the Jays get the second overall pick and are able to draft Mulder. This would have given the Blue Jays a duo of Mark Mulder during his great years with the Athletics and ace Roy Halladay during his Cy Young caliber prime. This may have lead to a more competitive team and possible playoff appearances. More success could have resulted in better success in free-agency as well. Believe it or not, the Blue Jays would most likely be a better team without Clemens.

 

During 1997 another pitcher was dominating the AL. His name was Randy Johnson, then with the Seattle Mariners. Johnson’s numbers were almost identical to Clemens’ in the pitching Triple Crown statistics. Johnson was one win and one strikeout behind Clemens as well as .23 points behind him in ERA. Without Clemens in the picture, The Big Unit would have added another Cy Young to his mantle. This would lead to Johnson owning the career record for Cy Young Awards instead of Clemens.

 

During the 2000 playoffs, the Seattle Mariners had just finished shocking the Chicago White Sox in the Division Series. Next up was the ALCS with the defending World Champion New York Yankees. The Mariners won game one with a dominant performance by ace Freddy Garcia. They were then thrashed by the Yanks in back-to-back games. The M’s however still had a legitimate shot at regaining control of the series because they had two more home games. Then there was game four. As soon as Clemens stepped onto the rubber, the game was over. Clemens pitched a complete game one-hitter while striking out 15 Mariners in possibly the most dominant pitching performance in recent playoff history. While the Mariners were able to pull out a win in game 5, they were not able to overcome the 3-1 deficit and lost the series in six games.

 

What if Roger Clemens was not on the Yankees and did not dominate the Mariners in Game 4?

 

Without Clemens on the Yanks during this series it is very possible that the Mariners would have won both games 4 and 5 with their great home field advantage. These wins would have given the Mariners a 3-2 lead in the series with two games left in the series. The Mariners would have had great momentum going into Yankee Stadium and would have ridden the momentum to a series win sending them to their first World Series in franchise history. Going into that series, they would have had amazing momentum again and could have possibly taken the Championship back to the Northwest.

 

Now I come back to the Red Sox. What if The Rocket never pitched again and never pitched for the rival New York Yankees? Would the Red Sox have ended the championship drought before 2004?

 

No. The Red Sox actually do not gain much from Clemens being out of the league.   

 

During Clemens’ tenure with the Yankees, he faced the Red Sox in the ALCS twice. Once in 1999 and then in 2003. In the first meeting in 1999 was one Clemens would like to forget as Clemens was gone in the third inning and the Red Sox won 13-1. So, Clemens was never really a factor in beating the Sox. During the second meeting in 2003 Clemens had a much greater factor but the turning point was not Clemens’ performance. Clemens did win game three and give the Yankees the early series lead that should have swung momentum to their side. Instead the Red Sox came back to win game four and even the series negating the momentum developed by the Yanks. In both meeting’s Clemens was never the driving force in a Red Sox defeat and is not to blame for the Red Sox loses in both meetings.

 

Rogers Clemens in one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history and he cemented this fact during his time after leaving Boston when he was supposed to be done. Teams gained, teams lost, teams remained stagnant. One thing is for sure, without The Rocket in the league from 1997 to the present, the league would not have been the same.