25. Dwight Gooden
There were a lot of players in consideration for this final spot, including CC Sabathia with his consistent top-of-the-rotation production, Félix Hernández for his stellar peak in Seattle and both Kevin Brown and David Cone with their underrated career resumes.
In the end, Gooden got the nod for his peak performance before off-the-field issues derailed his career. His 1985 season, in which he went 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts in 276.2 innings at the age of 20, is one of the best individual pitching seasons of the modern era.
24. Madison Bumgarner
Bumgarner has a 3.42 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 2,060 strikeouts in 2,192.2 innings and 33.3 WAR over 14 seasons, but he earns a spot on this list for his epic postseason production. He has a 2.11 ERA in 102.1 career playoff innings, and his 2014 run when he won NLCS and World Series MVP while slamming the door for a five-inning save in Game 7 of the World Series is the stuff of legend.
23. Johan Santana
During the five-year span from 2004 when he first became a full-time starter with the Minnesota Twins through his first season with the New York Mets in 2008, Santana went 86-39 with a 2.82 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 1,189 strikeouts in 1,146.2 innings. He won two AL Cy Young Awards and led the league in ERA three times and in strikeouts twice during that stretch. That short but elite peak earns him a spot in the top 25.
22. Jacob deGrom
The next few seasons will be pivotal for deGrom's long-term legacy. Will he make a significant climb up these rankings, or wind up being an elite-peak guy like Johan Santana or Tim Lincecum, who fades before he truly establishes himself as an all-time great? His 155 ERA+ in 1,326 innings speaks to just how dominant he's been when healthy, but he'll be 35 years old in June and has made just 26 starts the past two years.
21. John Smoltz
Since this is a list of the greatest starting pitchers of the modern era, it's only fair to exclude the time that Smoltz spent closing games for the Atlanta Braves from the conversation. That bumps him down a few spots relative to where he would be on a more general list of all-time great pitchers, but he still went 209-149 with a 3.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP and 2,804 strikeouts in 3,211.2 innings when working as a starter.
