Boston Red Sox starter Rick Porcello recently joined the ranks of pitching notables with his 20th victory – a feat that is becoming more difficult to achieve as the pitching philosophy of baseball changes. The development of talented specialist and especially dominant closers have had a profound impact on starting pitching.
BSI’s Tracy Katzke recently profiled some of the more recent 20 game winners and now the losers get a peek.
In the early years of baseball, a 30 game winner was often common and a 20 game winner was generally expected from those who took the ball every third day and maybe even more frequently.