Baseball Prospectus | The BP Wayback Machine: Pitching to the Score

Baseball Prospectus | The BP Wayback Machine: Pitching to the Score: "The late Greg Spira tackled the notion that certain hurlers "pitch to the score" in the following piece, which was originally published in Baseball Prospectus 1997.


One of the game's great chestnuts is the theory that some pitchers "pitch to the score" and "know how to win" in a way other than always allowing the fewest number of runs possible. The reverse, that some pitchers tend to give up runs more often in close games, is also a popular theory, though it's invoked less often. This, some say, makes it worthwhile to look at a pitchers' won-loss record in addition to his ERA to judge his effectiveness, because the number of runs a pitcher allows would then not be completely indicative of his value to his team, if he gives up those runs in a way that contributes to more wins than the average pitcher with the same rate of runs allowed."

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