The State of the Game- MLB

[clydepepper]

One night earlier this week there was a full schedule of games played:


15 games

Wanna guess how many different pitchers were used?



142!!


Crazy Times!
.

[KCRfan1]

That's certainly my Kansas City Royals! Rarely does a KC starting pitcher make it past 5 innings, let alone 6. Then, it's off to the pen where those guys need to be lights out. That hasn't been the case this season, as Soria has blown games yet Yost continues to trot him out there. Too much money to let him sit on the bench I guess and Yost loves his vets regardless how they perform.

I digress.

Back in the day, pitchers actually threw complete games ( more than 1 or 2 per season ), threw more than 250 innings ( some threw over 300 innings ), and threw over 100 pitches in a game.

Arms were more elastic then due to NOT over exercising / training, and keeping the arm loose. Pitchers didn't have half the arm problems then that there is now.

Those days are long gone.

[DaClyde]

I wonder how a lot of the middle relief guys get enough work to improve their game. If you only get to pitch an inning or less a few times a week, it seems like it would be difficult to really get into any kind of decent rhythm or pick up any good habits. Doesn't surprise me to see middle relief guys coming out of the bullpen with 5+ ERAs, but it must be frustrating for them.

[chaddurbin]

it's the byproduct of the extraordinary infusion of analytics being brought into the game and expanded september rosters. you don't want SP going thru the order for a 3rd time, you want to maximize every percentage point of expected win possible in your favor.

the dodgers FO are doing this to the extreme...the have the most roster moves, they have the most unstable starting lineups, their players wear freaking gps watches on the field and they utilize lasers to get exact placements for shifts and such...as a fan of the team i think it's GREAT.

[bravos4evr]

it is the era of specialization. Combine that with falling attention spans and analytics and this is the result.

That being said, so many pitchers throw 95+ these days (until their arm falls off) that I can hardly blame coaches for following the trend. Like defensive shifts ,the numbers show that specialized pen use leads to more wins.


IMO, the difference is that expansion, 5 man rotations,the price of pitching, but most of all, injury, have shrunk the quality of the starting pitching pool. 30% of all MLB pitchers have had TJ surgery (and growing) so teams are wary of overuse (which,IMO leads to less durable arms)

This goes back to high school and younger. Young arms pitch year round, putting too many miles on themselves, throwing max effort 100% of the time...etc the result is 24 year old MLB arms that have more miles than Nolan Ryan had at 30+

[SmokyBurgess]

In a perfect world...

2 leagues with 8 teams each (Contraction will clear up water downed pitching.)
DH gone...and inter-league play gone.
Scheduled doubleheaders.

Hey! I can wish, can't I?