Was that scoring rule created 100 years ago to prevent a starting pitcher from leaving early with a big lead and having a relief pitcher throw more innings and not get the win? If so, that reasoning has long since been turned around.
I've recently been criticizing Yankee manager Joe Girardi once again for removing his starting pitchers before they complete five innings and in several cases depriving them of wins. See the most recent post and work your way back:
Joe Girardi backtracked: kept starters Sabathia and Garcia in game past five innings. Friday, September 22, 2017
In the overwhelming majority of games there will be a parade of relief pitchers, each of whom will almost always pitch fewer innings than the starter. The starter will usually throw at least twice as many innings as any of those who relieved him. How is it fair that only the starter must pitch a minimum number of innings to qualify for the win?
At least modify the scoring rule. How about reducing the minimum for a starter to qualify to four innings. That might actually provide enough improvement to eliminate most of the tension that now exists between a manager and his starting pitchers.
The operative phrase now is to "kill the win", i.e., if not actually eliminate wins and losses for individual pitchers, then at least don't take them very seriously. I'm OK with that but if wins are to be awarded, how about adding more common sense?
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