Metsgeek Post

A post I made on www.metsgeek.com

I too said wins and losses are overrated. I hear these talking heads like John F. Kruk saying “wins and losses are the most important stat for a pitcher.” WRONG. The most important stat for a TEAM is wins and losses.

But a pitcher can(especially in the AL) only contribute 50% of the win. All he can do is prevent runs as best as he can. If he gives 1 run and he loses, who does the fault go to? The offense. Who gets the negative mark statistically? Him, he gets an extra 1 in the loss column.

Wins and losses is a statistic that is no longer pertinent to the modern pitcher. As someone else pointed out, you pitch great for 6-7 innings and the next 2-3 guys have to get you the win, unlike before when pitchers threw CGs all the time.

Now wins and losses are taken out of the pitcher’s hand for almost 1/3 of the game. The offense might not show up, the defense might let you down(hey, if you give up 1 unearned run, you still get a L as the pitcher, not an UE-L), the relievers might blow the win.

So many other factors go into a pitcher’s wins and losses that today it is a statistic that talks more about luck than skill. It means you pitched well enough for 6-7 innings and you got some run support, the relievers held the lead, and the defense didn’t make too many errors, so that you were able to see a W go up next to your name after the game finishes.

Are wins and losses important as a pitching statistic? Sometimes. But more often than not, a pitcher’s luck, good or bad, makes his W-L record hard to quantify. A WHIP, an ERA, all these statistics aren’t perfect. If your defense has bad range, you give up more hits, leading to more “earned” runs and a higher WHIP.

No statistic, at least, the ones most people know about, looks at what the pitcher did, and quantifies it into his contribution to the game. Fielders make mistakes, or bail out pitchers with great plays, runners make boneheaded plays and get doubled off, etc etc. Even umpires miss calls.

But Wins and Losses, they’re out of the pitcher’s control for the most part, as soon as his team comes up to bat for the first time. The pitcher must depend on his team to score runs to win.

Some wins are earned by pitchers, carrying their teams moribund offenses, and some wins are gift-wrapped with 10 run explosions from the pitcher’s offenses. Some losses are earned when the pitcher gets lit up, but just as many as lost because the pitcher’s offense is on vacation, making sand angels.