When watching a baseball game, we normally see a starting pitcher being removed from the game after 100 pitches. 100-pitch usually is considered a limit. The 2020 season was a shortened season. There is something interesting about the 100-pitch limit.
Lance Lynn was traded by the Rangers to the Chicago White Sox. In the 2020 season, he made 13 starts, only 4 pitchers made 13 starts as Lance Lynn did. In these 13 starts, Lance Lynn each threw more than 100 pitches. Also, there were 6 starts that Lynn threw at least 110 pitches. Lance Lynn has been one of the most durable pitchers in the majors. He tossed 84 innings, leading the majors in 2020. He will reunite with Tony La Russa and try to win the first division title for the White Sox for the first time since 2008.
The 2020 NL Cy Young winner Trevor Bauer made 11 starts in 2020 and there was only one game that he failed to throw 100 pitches. It was the second game of the doubleheaders between the Reds and the Royals on August 19. Bauer threw 97 pitches in that game and it was a 7-inning shutout. A 7-inning shutout is a product of the 2020 season. Bauer tossed two 7-inning shutouts last season.
Lance Lynn and Trevor Bauer were the only two pitchers who threw at least 10 100-pitch games last season.
3-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer made 12 starts in 2020 and he threw at least 100 pitches in 9 of these 12 starts. On August 5, Scherzer exited the game against the Mets early because of a tweaked right hamstring. It was his shortest start in the shortened season and he threw only 1 inning with 27 pitches.
On the chart, we can see that 4 pitchers who had 8 games to throw at least 100 pitches. Two of them are from the Cleveland Indians, they are Aaron Civale and 2020 AL Cy Young winner Shane Bieber. The other two players are Yankee Ace Gerrit Cole and Lucas Giolito from the White Sox.
Last season, there were 91 pitchers to throw at least 100 pitches in a game. When looking at the long list of these 91 pitchers, one thing came to my mind. Where is Clayton Kershaw?
Kershaw used 99 pitches in a game twice last season. In 2019, Kershaw had 6 games to use at least 100 pitches. Kershaw has played for the Dodgers since 2008. He’s a 3-time Cy Young winner and won the 2014 MVP award. We all remember how great Kershaw is and how reliable Kershaw is. So far in his career, 2020 is the only ”year” that Kershaw didn’t have a game to use at least 100 pitches. Yes, I use “year” because Kershaw didn’t reach 100-pitch count in any of the 2020 postseason starts and he only threw more than 90 pitches once in the 2020 playoffs. Kershaw used 93 pitches to finish 8 innings and he struck out 13 Brewers’ batters in the Wild Card Series.
That’s something truly interesting in the 2020 shortened season. The Orioles and the Red Sox may not have good pitching depth. But, how about the World Series Champions Dodgers? Are they going to have different ideas on pitcher usage?
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