Here's hoping Sunday's game between the Brewers and the Diamondbacks has a bearing on the National League West race, because an important game means Randy Johnson will not only pitch but pitch with the season on the line.

And Randy Johnson vs. the Milwaukee Brewers, with the season on the line, means we'll have a new single-season strikeout king by the end of the weekend.

The Brewers, the most strikingest team in the history of the game, against Johnson. It happened last week to the tune of 16 punch-outs, and you figure Randy, with a fully etched game face for the season-ender, would be worth at least 16 more.

(Now is the time for someone to pop up and remind me that Johnson has had a lackluster postseason record. True, but remember this: Johnson is 23-1 over the past seven Septembers. That's part of the reason he'll have his third straight Cy Young Award before Christmas.)

Johnson needs 12 strikeouts to exceed the 383 Nolan Ryan sat down for the Angels in '73. At the risk of alienating the entire state of Texas and the makers of Advil, Johnson would be a worthy and deserving successor to Ryan.

Asked if he considered himself the rightful heir to Ryan, Johnson said he didn't think so, that most people think Roger Clemens is that guy. Still, there are many similarities between Johnson and Ryan.

Neither takes any garbage on the mound. (Ryan would throw at hitters who swung too hard.) Both got better with age. Both retained their power -- as well as their powers of intimidation -- well into the latter stages of their careers.

In fact, as Johnson waits to see if he'll be needed to win a season finale and break Ryan's record, maybe the best way to describe the Big Unit is this way: Nolan Ryan with a better winning percentage.

Tim Keown is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at tim.keown@espnmag.com.