I was just thinking about this, and I don't think I can conceive of a logical reason. I mean, would it make a difference if a pitcher was not credited with a win and instead the team is recognized as getting the win (as they already are)?
I mean I suppose it is a stat, but I think it's almost universally agreed upon that wins are not a predictive measure of a pitcher's individual performance, so the stat fails on that basis. Perhaps the same can be said of goaltenders in hockey.
I don't see QB's get assigned wins in football, or goaltenders in soccer and perhaps this can just as easily be done if you want to add a stat.
I was just thinking about this, and I don't think I can conceive of a logical reason. I mean, would it make a difference if a pitcher was not credited with a win and instead the team is recognized as getting the win (as they already are)?
I mean I suppose it is a stat, but I think it's almost universally agreed upon that wins are not a predictive measure of a pitcher's individual performance, so the stat fails on that basis. Perhaps the same can be said of goaltenders in hockey.
I don't see QB's get assigned wins in football, or goaltenders in soccer and perhaps this can just as easily be done if you want to add a stat.
Is there a historical reason?
Tell that to award voters who seem to only give Cy Youngs to the guy with the most wins 95% of the time.
Wins are actually a halfway decent measuring tool for guys who play on the same team. Flawed, yes, but not totally useless as they are when comparing guys not on the same team.
Wins are actually a halfway decent measuring tool for guys who play on the same team. Flawed, yes, but not totally useless as they are when comparing guys not on the same team.
If you had a larger sample, yeah. Problem is ~30 starts a piece means there can be a ton of variance in offensive and bullpen support.
some pitchers get more run support than others. no real reason behind it, it just happens.
does that mean that pitcher a is better than pitcher b? if pitcher a has 15 wins and pitcher b has 11? not really.
I had a (brief) argument with someone (excuse the exaggerations but it was to make a point) who said he'd take a 20 win Pitcher with like a 8.00 ERA over a 20 loss Pitcher with an ERA <2.00.
I just and
It was more worthy than when someone else told me steroids turn a ground out to 2B into a double in the gap.
Moral of the story? I needed to find smarter people to talk baseball with.
some pitchers get more run support than others. no real reason behind it, it just happens.
does that mean that pitcher a is better than pitcher b? if pitcher a has 15 wins and pitcher b has 11? not really.
Cliff Lee last year. The amount of Phillies "fans" that thought he was terrible because of his W-L didn't seem to notice his stats were somewhat close to Cole Hamels, who they all loved last year.
Cliff Lee last year. The amount of Phillies "fans" that thought he was terrible because of his W-L didn't seem to notice his stats were somewhat close to Cole Hamels, who they all loved last year.
and 
