Complete games

[BC867]

I've been outspoken about Torey Lovullo's obsession with each starting pitcher going seven innings, no matter what. As we know, Major League baseball has evolved into 7th, 8th and 9th-inning relief specialists.

I think back to the 1950's when I first became a baseball fan.

In 1954, the A.L. champion Cleveland Indians had 74 complete games out of 147 from their big 3 and the other two who shared the 4th starter spot. At the time, starting on three days rest was the norm. Only one of Cleveland's five was under age thirty.

PITCHER.......AGE...W - L...E.R.A...COMPLETE/STARTED
Lemon...........33.....23-7....2.72..............21/33.........
Wynn............30.....23-11...2.73..............20/36.........
Garcia...........30.....19-8.....2.64..............13/34.........
Houtteman.....26.....15-7.....3.35..............11/25........
Feller.............35.....13-3.....3.09................9/19........

So what has changed over the years? The players fly from city to city, rather than by bus and train. And stay in nicer hotels. And medical staffs are a lot more advanced. You'd think complete games would have stayed consistent or even improved. Even from 1961-66, Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale averaged 17.5 complete games.

But there was a big change in 1958 when the Dodgers and Giants moved to California. It took awhile to set in, but I believe there was one major factor in the huge reduction of complete games over the decades. Jet lag! Back and forth over time zones three hours apart. Think how it affects our internal clocks when we travel across country.

So I'll stick to my criticism of Torey Lovullo's obsession of seven innings no matter what.

 

[DWKB]

It's not jet lag, it's effort per pitch plain and simple. Today's SP throw harder per pitch than ever before. Add on that not as many "gimme outs" in the lineup as before that a pitcher could take off and the fact that an average reliever the first time through the order is often a better matchup than an ace the third time through and complete games become a "treat" for a SP who happens to be in the zone that night.

 

[Dback Jon]

It's not jet lag, it's effort per pitch plain and simple. Today's SP throw harder per pitch than ever before. Add on that not as many "gimme outs" in the lineup as before that a pitcher could take off and the fact that an average reliever the first time through the order is often a better matchup than an ace the third time through and complete games become a "treat" for a SP who happens to be in the zone that night.

Good points

 

[AZ Native]

It's not jet lag, it's effort per pitch plain and simple. Today's SP throw harder per pitch than ever before. Add on that not as many "gimme outs" in the lineup as before that a pitcher could take off and the fact that an average reliever the first time through the order is often a better matchup than an ace the third time through and complete games become a "treat" for a SP who happens to be in the zone that night.

Makes sense to me, I was thinking that the bus rides from city to city would be more draining.

Can you imagine someone throwing 200 pitches now, or throwing back to back games? It is a difficult world now, pitchers throw harder, an average batter now would have been an all star back then, the ball is livelier now and of course more specialization now. That makes it difficult to compare eras.

Wait, what was the question again?