Ask most people who the best pitcher of this current era of baseball is and you'll hear lots of names. Roger Clemens (although there's a stigma attached to him now), Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux are all names that are sure to come up. But one name that might not come up, but absolutely should is John Smoltz. Through a 20 year career this guy has amassed over 200 wins, almost 3,000 Ks, and a career 3.26 ERA. Okay, so most of those numbers can't match the stats of those other guys.

Consider that for four seasons Smoltz was a dominant closer for the Braves, where racked up 154 saves . And consider that Smoltz has had injury issues, some extremely major, that hampered his stats. The fact is, the guy is 41 years old and just struck out 10 batters over just five innings last night. He's an incredible athlete and, in my opinion, should be considered one of the best pitchers of my ERA and should be a first ballot Hall of Famer. You take Randy Johnson, and give me Smoltz.