Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Tom Glavine stands on the doorstep of history, and there’s a very good chance that once he’s in, the door will be locked tight behind him.

The pride of Billerica, MA earned career victory #299 last night in Pittsburgh. His first crack at 300 comes Tuesday night in Milwaukee. Even if he fails against the Brewers, Glavine is a lock to reach the milestone at some point this season, barring catastrophic injury, of course. When he does, there’s a very good chance he’ll likely go down in history as the last major league pitcher to do so.

Think of the factors working against pitchers in today’s game; 5-man rotations…liberal use of the bullpen…pitch counts…bulked up batters…scientific approaches to hitting…and of course, the dreaded arm injuries that seem to strike down any overworked hurler. Mommas, don’t let your babies grow up to be pitchers. The deck is stacked against them.

Just look at the list of active wins leaders. Only Randy Johnson is within striking distance, but The Big Unit’s back woes make it more likely the soon-to-be 44-year old lefty will hang up his spikes before he gets much closer. Other than that, there isn’t a pitcher on the horizon with a prayer. You have to drop all the way down to #41 C.C. Sabathia (94-wins) and #47 Johan Santana (89-wins) to even find one young enough to say he has a chance if he can last another decade while winning 20-games a year. You really think that’s going to happen?

While most of the baseball world follows Barry Bonds’ quest to make home run history, wise fans of the game will keep their attention focused on the Mets rotation. I’ll guarantee you someone, probably A-Rod, will come along and top whatever number Bonds closes out his controversial career at.

Tom Glavine, on the other hand, will go down as the last of his kind!

What do you think? If you voted “No” in the poll, who do you think can win 300-games? Better yet, what fundamental change to the game do you think will occur that will allow that to happen?