By Brian Joura
In 1987, Nolan Ryan won two legs of the pitchers’ triple crown, as he led the NL in both ERA (2.76) and strikeouts (270) – which helped him to a 6.4 fWAR, the top mark in the league. Yet, Ryan posted a W-L record of 8-16, which seems unfathomable. But it’s just one of many examples of why it’s a bad idea to judge pitchers by their win total.
But while we shouldn’t judge individuals by wins, it’s exactly how we judge teams. Wins are, after all, a team stat. So, can we judge a group of players on a team by wins? Is it okay to judge how the starters (or relievers) do in this team stat? It’s probably still better to judge by another number but let’s move forward with this concept, because it’s something we can grasp pretty easily.
No comments:
Post a Comment