Posted by
John Dewan
on Dec 16th 2015
December 15, 2006
It’s straight-forward that a pitcher’s win-loss record depends on his own performance. How many hits and walks he allows, home runs allowed, number of strikeouts, all come into play. However, while it’s also fairly well known that the offense provided by his teammates matters as well, the extent of it is not well known. Here are some interesting examples of pitchers with similar ERAs but who have vastly different win-loss records because of different levels of run support provided by their teammates. | Pitchers | ERA | Run Support | W-L Record |
| Randy Johnson, Yankees | 5.00 | 7.51 | 17-11 |
| Mark Buerhle, White Sox | 4.99 | 4.99 | 12-13 |
| Roy Halladay, Blue Jays | 3.19 | 6.01 | 16-5 |
| C.C. Sabathia, Indians | 3.22 | 4.53 | 12-11 |
| Kelvim Escobar, Angels | 3.61 | 4.47 | 11-14 |
| Justin Verlander, Tigers | 3.63 | 6.77 | 17-9 |
| Felix Hernandez, Mariners | 4.52 | 4.48 | 12-14 |
| Freddy Garcia, White Sox | 4.53 | 6.16 | 17-9 |
Especially interesting when they are on the same team:
| Pitchers | ERA | Run Support | W-L Record |
| Kenny Rogers, Tigers | 3.84 | 6.40 | 17-8 |
| Nate Robertson, Tigers | 3.84 | 4.49 | 13-13 |
Rogers had nearly two runs more per game to work with than Robertson. Thus, despite their matching ERAs, Rogers had a much better record than Robertson. Does the better record make Rogers a better pitcher than Robertson? A lot of folks will say yes, maybe even most folks. But the fact of the matter is that their records could easily have been reversed if the run support were reversed. It’s nothing more than pure luck that the Tigers scored more runs for Rogers than Robertson.
Using these examples (and others), for pitchers who have performed about the same, each run of support means an extra couple of wins over the course of the season for a starting pitcher. That’s significant. Especially when the Cy Young voting occurs (and at salary negotiation time!).
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