In two postseason starts now, Cliff Lee has yet to issue a walk but has 21 K's.  Add that to his regular season numbers, and he is now at 228.1 IP, 18 BB's, and 206 K's.  Thats an 11.4K/BB ratio!  (his regular season ratio was 10.3). 

Historically, that's pretty good. 

Brett Saberhagen* put up an amazing 11.0 in the strike-shortened 1994 (177.1 IP, 13 BB's, 143 K's), and Jim Whitney had a 10.0 in 1884 (336 IP, 27 BB's, 270 K's).  Besides those two, no other pitcher has ever had a 10 K/BB ratio in a season!  In fact, there are only three other pitchers who have ever even had a 9 or better (Whitney again in 1883, Schilling in 2002, and George Bradley in 1880).

Among active pitchers, only three have ever even had a 7 or better K/BB (Ben Sheets - 8.3 in 2004, Carlos Silva - 7.9 in 2005, and Roy Halladay - 7.3 in 2010).

What's even more amazing about Lee's 2010 season is that he didnt just drastically reduce his BB rate (0.8 BB/9 in 2010, previous low was 1.4 in 2008).  He also increased his K rate (7.8 K/9 in 2010, his highest rate since 2004) and had the lowest hit rate of his career (8.3 H/9). 

What does 2011 hold for Cliff Lee?  Can he maintain something close to his 2010 K, BB, and H rates?  Can he get his GB/FB and XBH% rates closer to his 2008 levels?  Could he repeat the dominance of his 2008 season?  If not for his back problems which led to a terrible August, he would have nearly repeated his 2008 numbers. 

*side-note:  I believe Saberhagen, in 1994, is the last pitcher to have more Wins than BB in a season (14 Wins, 13 BB), which is also kinda cool.  Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.