It’s just not fans who look at W-L. Writers do it too. I
mean look at some Cy Young award winners. In 2005 Bartolo Colon won it over Johan
Santana because he had the mighty 20+ wins. His FIP and xFIP that year was 3.75
and 3.91. Santana's was 2.80 and 3.12. Santana had more strikeouts and innings
pitched while only giving up 2 more walks even though he pitched 9 more
innings. His WHIP was also 0.971 vs Colon's 1.159. I guess that 16-7 record
wasn’t as nice looking as Colon's 21-8. In 2005 Roger Clemens won over Randy Johnson cause his W-L
that year was 18-4 while Johnson's was 16-14. Johnson's FIP and xFIP was 2.30
and 2.65. Clemens? 3.11 and 3.42. WAR wise? Johnson's 9.9 > Clemen's 6.0. In
1990 Bob Welch took it from Clemens by going 27-6 compared to Clemens’ 21-6.
Welch’s era and FIP were 2.95 and 4.19. That calculates to a 1.8 WAR. Clemens?
1.93 era 2.18 FIP and 8.7 WAR.
So as you can see, W-L doesn’t show you how good a pitcher is, it just shows you how the team does during his starts. But as the days of sabermetrics rises, so does the awareness of fans and writers. Lincecum and Greinke both won Cy Young’s in 2009 even though they had less wins than other candidates that year. And in 2010 Felix Hernandez won it with a 13-12 record. The lowest wins and winning percentage for a Cy Young award winner, relief pitchers not included. So here's to the future of baseball and the downfall of W-L records!
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