In 1975, Jim "Catfish" Hunter, of the New York Yankees threw 30 complete games. In 1980, Rick Langford, of the Oakland A's threw 28 complete games. In 2018, in contrast to Hunter and Lankford, 6 pitchers lead the league in complete games with only 2. The last time that anyone pitched at least 10 complete games was 1999 when Randy Johnson finished 12 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks. The complete game has become an artifact in professional baseball.
Will White pitched a record 75 complete games for Cincinnati in 1879. Old Hoss Radbourn completed 73 games for Providence in 1879. In 1883, Pud Galvin went the distance 72 times for Buffalo. From 1876 to 1979 it was commonplace for the best starting pitchers to pitch complete games. In the 1980's it became less of an expectation. The game started to become more specialized as teams relied on relief pitchers. Eventually, things became even more specialized as each relief pitcher accepted a specific role out of the bullpen. Some pitchers became middle relievers, while others became set up men or closers. Still others became left handed specialists who were expected to get left handed batters out.
Cy Young threw 749 complete games, which is the most in history. Galvin threw 646 complete games. Tim Keefe completed 554 games and Kid Nichols threw 532 complete games. Walter Johnson threw 531 complete games. CC Sabbathia and Bartolo Colon lead active players with 58 career complete games.
In 1952 Robin Roberts threw 28 consecutive complete games to end the season. He began the 1953 season with 22 straight complete games. In 1980, Langford completed 22 consecutive games.
Tyler Kepner points out that three pitchers have won CY Young awards without throwing a complete game during there award winning season. Max Scherzer(2013), Jake Peavy (2007) and Roger Clemens (2001 and 2004) each won CY Young Awards despite not going the distance once during their award winning season.
Kepner points out that "Teams are increasingly careful with pitchers' workloads, and pitchers rarely exceed 125 pitches per outing." Kepler says that in 1993, "there were 304 instances of a pitcher throwing 125 pitches in a game." However, in 2013 there were only 14 such cases. Kepler points that Scherzer did not have one game where he pitched 125 innings in 2013.
Although, teams routinely try and keep pitchers from throwing more than 100 games, in 1984, Nolan Ryan threw 235 pitches in a 13 inning game for the California Angels against the Boston Red Sox. During the same game, Luis Tiant, of the Red Sox pitched all 15 innings. The Angels won 4-3, and Tiant got the loss despite pitching all 15 innings.
In 1997, the Braves' Greg Maddux needed only 76 pitches to throw a complete game against the Chicago Cubs- his former team. Maddux was very efficient that day. He threw only 13 balls. So, 63 of his 76 pitches were thrown over the plate. He had 6 strikeouts and limited the Cubs to only one run. Mike Oz of Yahoo Sports points out that "Aaron Cook threw a 74 pitch complete game for the Rockies in 2007 and Carlos Silva also went 74 pitches for the Twins in 2005." Such efficiency is rare. Most pitchers need many more pitches to throw a complete game. If pitchers could be as efficient as Maddux was that day, than complete games would be more common.
The complete game has simply become more rare today. Peter Gammons makes the following points. He says that between 1950-59, 328 pitchers threw at least 10 complete games in a season. Between 1960-69, 313 pitchers threw at least 10 complete games in a season. Between 1970-79, 382 pitchers threw at least 10 complete games in a season. Between 1980-89, 154 pitchers threw at least 10 complete games in a season. Between 1990-99, only 27 pitchers threw at least 10 complete games in a season. Between 2000-13, James Shields threw 11 complete games in 2011 and CC Sabathia threw 10 complete games in 2008. They are the last two pitchers to throw at least 10 complete games in a season. There has simply been a steady decline in the number of complete games thrown by major league pitchers.
Today pitchers rarely go nine innings. Teams have too much money invested in pitchers. So, they try and conserve their arms. Today's game is more specialized as well. Teams have middle relievers, set up men and closers. The bullpen is a big part of a team today. However, the biggest reason for the decline in complete games is the pitch count.
Teams often take a pitcher out after 100 pitches. Whether or not 100 pitches in an arbitrary number or not is debatable. Some doctors say that pitchers begin to tire after 100 pitches, so it makes sense to take them out of the game before they do damage to their arms.
Dieter Kurtenbach of FoxSports says "How did we come to decide that 100 pitches were too many? Well, it seems that the number was arbitrary...There's no data to suggest that 100 is the magic number of fatigue, after which injuries increase at an alarming rate.There's no information that's been collected that labels the 100th pitch as a saturation point of effectiveness either." So, according to Kurtenbach, there is nothing magical about the number 100. A player does not suddenly become fatigued after throwing his 100th pitch.
However, the likelihood of injury increases the more a pitcher throws. So, with each pitch after 100, a pitcher's chances of being injured grows. The number 100 may have been established for a good reason. Kurtenbach says "Baseball Prospectus has a metric, called Pitcher Abuse Points, that aims to quantify pitchers' overexertion. But in order to establish what exertion is, there has to be a baseline. That threshold? You guessed it: PAP operated under the assumption that fatigue set in at 100 pitches. Under 100 pitches, the metric claims, and there's no stress. For every pitch thrown after number 100, the stress compounds at a factor of three." So, every pitch after 100 may increase the likelihood that a pitcher may get injured. Throwing a baseball is stressful. With each pitch that stress could increase. So, trying to keep a pitcher at or below 100 pitches is a reasonable goal.
Nevertheless, not everyone believes that pitch counts help pitchers avoid injuries. John Bradbury and Sean Forman did a study in 2012 that was published in the The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, which was entitled "The Impact of Pitch Counts and Days of Rest on Performance Among Major League Baseball Pitchers." The study concluded that "Although the belief that overuse can harm pitchers is widespread, there exists little evidence to show that the number of pitches thrown and the days of rest affect future performance and injury among adults."
While Bradbury and Forman found no connection between the number of pitches thrown in a game and injury, they did find that "each pitch thrown in the proceeding game increased earned run average by 0.007 in the following game. Bradbury and Forman also found that "each pitch averaged in the preceding game 5 and 10 games increased the ERA by 0.014 and 0.022, respectively." This suggests that as the season wears on, starting pitchers become slightly less effective. There appears to be a cumulative effect on the pitcher's performance. Understandably, Bradbury and Forman found that the performance of older pitchers were effected the most.
While many focus on one game, Bradbury and Forman found that "the impact of the cumulative pitching load is larger than the impact on a single game." The arms of starting pitchers were most effected by the length of the season more than by the number of pitchers thrown in a single game.
Obviously, the findings of Bradbury and Forman are not definitive. It's very possible that some pitchers are adversely effected by a large number of pitches thrown in a single game. Every pitcher is different. Each person's body responds differently to stress and work.
Velocity and bad mechanics could also lead to injuries. Pitching puts stress on the arm, and if the mechanics are bad or if someone throws fast consistently, that could lead to injury as well. Jonah Keri of grantland.com points out that "velocity is a factor. All things being equal, throwing 95 miles per hour is more stressful than throwing 90. But throwing 95 miles per hour with good mechanics is less stressful than throwing 90 miles per hour with bad mechanics. Throwing 95 miles per hour with proper rest is less dangerous than throwing 90 miles per hour without rest." So, Keri emphasizes the importance of good mechanics and proper rest. Theoretically, good mechanics and proper rest could help a pitcher avoid injury even if he was throwing fast.
The myriad of different perspectives show that there are multiple factors that determine whether a pitcher can avoid injury. Pitchers need to get the proper rest for their arms, observe good mechanics and throw at a velocity that is appropriate for their arm strength.
Pitching is an unnatural motion that puts strain on the elbow. Injuries to pitchers may come from how hard pitchers throw rather than the number of pitches that they throw. Pitchers throw harder today than they did in the past. That could explain why some pitchers get injured. For instance, for two years in a row Boston's Chris Sale has struggled in the second half of the season. For two consecutive years Sale has spent time on the disabled list. Sale is a hard thrower whose injuries may have come from the speed of his pitches.
Sometimes has pitchers age they are encouraged to develop another approach to pitching. For instance, pitchers may have to develop another pitch and rely less on their fastball. CC Sabathia and Andy Pettite adjusted their pitching style at the end of their careers for the New York Yankees.
Sometimes knuckle ball pitchers such as Tim Wakefield, Charlie Hough and others were able to pitch into their 40's because the knuckle ball does not require a lot of speed. A knuckle ball pitcher puts less strain on his arm because he relies on an off speed pitch rather than a fastball. The knuckle ball pitch "floats" to the plate. It is difficult for a batter to time a knuckle ball pitch.
Doctors, general managers and field managers are learning more every year about how to keep pitchers healthy. Keeping pitchers healthy is not an exact science. There are many variable involved. Starting pitchers need a certain amount of rest in between starts and need to adjust their velocity if their arms are getting tired.
The focus on pitcher's health has made the complete game an artifact in baseball. It's unlikely that the complete game will ever become commonplace again. However, what is rare is more valuable. So, as the complete game becomes more rare, it becomes more meaningful when it does occur.
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