Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2016 July 27

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July 27

Number of baseball games played by Chris Sale

I know almost nothing about baseball, so be gentle. The one thing I do know is that the season is 162 games long. With this in mind, is it normal for Chris Sale to have played (started?) in only 114 games since his debut in 2010? To my untutored eye, it seems a low number for someone who appears to be so highly rated. Many thanks. Dalliance (talk) 12:33, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

First and foremost, it's important to note that games played for pitchers (such as Sale) do not align with other positions. A pitcher can be reasonably expected to play, while healthy, in about 1/4 of their team's games, give or take. This number is frequently higher for relief pitchers and lower for starting pitchers, owing to the higher number of innings per appearance typically pitched by the starter.

So, Sale was first called up to the majors in 2010, but that was a late-season call-up. Let's toss it out rather than trying to pro-rate. He appeared in 58 games as a reliever in 2011. That was the fewest appearances of the Sox' five primary relievers that year, but all were within 10 appearances of each other. So, I think that qualifies as being normal usage. From 2012 on, he's been a starter (note, on the first ref, that "G" for games played tracks very closely with "GS" for games started), and has started about 30 games a year. That matches up well against the more-or-less five-pitcher rotation that the Sox (and most MLB teams) have used over that span -- their most-heavily started pitcher has started no more than 33 games in a season during the relevant period. That also counts as normal usage.

Lastly, we can contrast against other top-tier pitchers. Going through the list of Cy Young Award winners provides a good benchmark; I selected Clayton Kershaw because he's a multiple winner during Sale's career. From 2012-2016, Kershaw has appeared in 142 games. Sale has appeared in 136 during that span. So his usage checks out there against one of the consensus best pitchers in the game, too. — Lomn 14:22, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

Just to elaborate a bit, baseball players are basically grouped into two categories: position players and pitchers. For a position player to play (almost) every game in the season is reasonably common (see, for example, Cal Ripken Jr., who played in a record 2,632 consecutive games). Pitchers cannot play every inning the way a position player could; the physical strain makes that impossible. Starting pitchers (i.e. the ones who start the games and rack up the most innings) typically start one fifth of their team's games at most and only pitch for seven or eight innings each game. Relief pitchers (like Sale) can pitch in more games than a starting pitcher could, but at the "cost" of not pitching so many innings per game. But even the relief pitchers could not play every game - the physical strain on their arms would result in injury. Matt Deres (talk) 16:28, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

The situation has evolved as a function of the schedule. In the early days of the National League in the 1870s, a team had just one regular pitcher, but they only played about twice a week, so it worked out about the same as it does today, with two or three days' rest. (They also had to deliver underhanded.) By the 1880s, the schedule had expanded to the point where they needed two regular pitchers. Squads were limited to 12, and substitution was limited. The pitcher with the "off" day would often play right field. And pitchers were allowed to throw overhand. By the 1890s, the schedule and the squad size had expanded to modern levels. Pitchers no longer played in other positions, as a general rule. But they also pitched full games when possible. That's how Cy Young ended up with more than 500 wins and more than 300 losses. Babe Ruth began as a pitcher, and his games-played reflected the phenomenon the OP asked about. But once his extraordinary batting came to the fore, they started playing him more often. He eventually said "enough" to the pitching and became a full-time outfielder, playing pretty much every day. After that, he only pitched a few times (and won them all, by the way). ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:50, 27 July 2016 (UTC)

Superb answers. Thank you all very much indeed. Dalliance (talk) 21:49, 27 July 2016 (UTC)