New Era for Pitching?

[serving4theking]

My evidence is purely circumstantial based on what I've seen as I watch the two fantasy leagues I'm in...but it seems to me like the quality of pitching (especially solid starting pitching) is at a several decade high. I'm talking about two things:

1) The calibre of the "elite" starter: Halladay, Lincecum, Sabathia, etc. They just seem to dominate.

2) The number of good solid starters out there.

Is it just a false perception or is there something to it?

 

[aaron41984]

Are you alluding to hitters not being able to use roids as a potential reason or am I reading too far into this?

 

[19braves77]

Kershaw has started 5 games and everyone was a quality start.

He is on pace to finish the season 7-7 after 35 starts with a 3.05 ERA with over 200 innings

Tim hudson hs also on pace to go 7-7 with 27 starts and a 3.28 ERA

then you have Wade Davis who is projected to go 14-7 in 27 starts with a 3.68 ERA

The difference between a #2 starter and a #5 is at a all time low.

 

[serving4theking]

Are you alluding to hitters not being able to use roids as a potential reason or am I reading too far into this?

That was one of the possible precursors that I thought about, but is it no more than that?

 

[vwnut13]

New Era for Pitching?

AKA: NL sucks. Therefore, good pitchers dominate in the NL.

 

[nborton]

Kershaw has started 5 games and everyone was a quality start.

He is on pace to finish the season 7-7 after 35 starts with a 3.05 ERA with over 200 innings

Tim hudson hs also on pace to go 7-7 with 27 starts and a 3.28 ERA

then you have Wade Davis who is projected to go 14-7 in 27 starts with a 3.68 ERA

The difference between a #2 starter and a #5 is at a all time low.

Haha, I have all three on my fantasy team. Wins are naturally killing me so far.

 

[pujolsjunkie]

Kershaw has started 5 games and everyone was a quality start.

He is on pace to finish the season 7-7 after 35 starts with a 3.05 ERA with over 200 innings

Tim hudson hs also on pace to go 7-7 with 27 starts and a 3.28 ERA

then you have Wade Davis who is projected to go 14-7 in 27 starts with a 3.68 ERA

The difference between a #2 starter and a #5 is at a all time low.

Maybe Kershaw should stop throwing 110 pitches to get through 5 innings and he'll win more.

 

[markakis8]

Uhh...Kershaw's first 2 starts were not QS. He didn't even pitch 5 full innings in his first start against the Pirates....

IP H R ER HR BB SO
4.2 5 3 3 1 6 4

Kershaw has started 5 games and everyone was a quality start.

 

[darocker80]

he means lincecum has thrown 5 QS

 

[Zithy]

The pitchers will get tired out as the season progresses, and the hitters will warm up.

 

[smapdi]

Hitting has been dominant for the past 15-20 years, both in terms of individual performances and cumulative stats (runs per game, homers per game, etc.). Whether all that was due to PEDs and what weight the combination of smaller parks, smaller strikezones, and changes in approaches to hitting had is something that's difficult to sort out. But despite all that, there have always been some pitchers who simply dominated. Today it's Lincecum, Halladay, Lee, etc., and others a notch below like Felix, Price, etc. But in the last decade there was Pedro, Johnson, Clemens, Maddux, Glavine, and others for briefer periods but with peaks nearly as high (Zito, Santana, Webb, et al), some of whom have come back. It was amazing to watch baseball when there was an average of 3.5 homers per game being hit and Pedro would be out there with a sub-2.00 ERA.

 

[19braves77]

My bad with Kershaw.

Look at Wade Davis vs Zack Grienke today.

A #1 pitcher going up against a #5 with the #1 pitcher making one mistake.

Games like this today are fun.