World series error: John Smoltz engages inn disinformation during game 2

By N.S.

Hall of famer John Smoltz, whose favorite line is, “You really don’t know, if you haven’t been there,” was comparing the low inning counts typical of today’s starting pitchers (almost never 200 or more innings) with those of their predecessors, and asked the audience how many innings Sandy Koufax ever pitched in a season. I immediately knew he was wrong. Smoltz said, “357 innings.”

The most innings Koufax ever pitched in a regular season was 335 2/3, in 1965, his penultimate season.

So, maybe Smoltzie meant, including the World Series? Still wrong. In the 1965 World Series, Sandy Koufax started three games, went 2-1, with two shutouts, giving up only one earned run (plus one unearned run), and pitched 24 innings (he was series MVP for the second time, while getting his fourth ring), for a total of 359 2/3 that year.