Apples and Oranges. Carlton pitched in an era when complete games were still a thing. Pedro when closers were Becoming very important.

Pedro was dominant for 6 innings. He started 29 and only finished 7 because nobody finished games
anymore. Boston had enough offense to finish 2nd in 2000. They gave Pedro some run support.

Carlton finished 30 out of 41, a lot more late inning fatigue and at least one more time through the order. Yet he still won 27 games. The Phillies were abysmal, winning just 59. They couldn’t hit and except for Carlton, they couldn’t pitch.

Your points regarding the comparative strengths and weaknesses of the leagues are most important.
They both had Hall of Fame careers, but, I’ll agree that it was harder to get batters out in 2000, than 1972, so Pedro’s season wins.

It would be fun to use the time machine to put Pedro in ‘72 and Carlton in 2000.