The Time Frame: 2000 to 2004
Combined All-Star Appearances: 6
Combined Cy Young Awards: 1
Combined Playoff Win/Loss Record: 6-6
World Series Titles: 0
The Oakland Athletics made the playoffs in four of the five seasons that Tim Hudson, Barry Zito and Mark Mulder pitched together.
During that run, each starter earned two All-Star selections, and Zito won the AL Cy Young Award in 2002. Mulder was the runner-up for that honor in 2001, and Hudson ended up No. 2 in the voting the year before that.
As Mulder explained via Chuck Johnson of USA Today back in August of 2004, it was the "friendly competitiveness" that made all three aces so dominant.
"I've always said that I would not be as nearly as good standing here today if I wouldn't have pitched with these guys," Mulder said. "They've pushed me, and I've pushed them. It's a friendly competitiveness."
In the same interview, Mulder addressed the possibility of the Big Three eventually being split up.
Who knows what's going to happen once free agency comes? ... But I'd love to be able to do something like Atlanta did and have all of us pitch together. That would be great. I'd pitch with these guys for the rest of my career. But the reality is, chances are that might not happen. So you have fun and try to win while you've got it.
Just a few months later, the era came to an end when Mulder was shipped off to the St. Louis Cardinals and Hudson was traded to the Atlanta Braves. Zito would remain with the team for two more seasons.
