30 starts

The 2023 regular season has just begun. A couple of days ago, I was watching a game on TV, and on the mound, it was a great pitcher who made 30+ starts last season. The MLB teams have different methods to use pitchers these years and I began to wonder whether there are actually fewer pitchers who made 30+ starts these years.

To understand a little bit more, I went to check on the MLB website.

In 2000, Tom Glavine, Rick Helling, Randy Johnson, Jon Lieber, Greg Maddux, Kevin Millwood and David Wells each made 35 starts. 3 of these 7 pitchers were later on inducted to the Hall of Fame. In this season, there were 67 pitchers who made at least 30 starts. The next year, Tom Glavine made 35 starts again and 4 other pitchers also made 35 starts. In total, there were 63 pitchers who made 30+ starts in 2001. In 2002, Tom Glavine led the majors with 36 starts. Besides Glavine, 67 pitchers each made at least 30 starts this year.

In 2003, two Hall of Famers Roy Halladay and Greg Maddux were leaders in games started. They each made 36 starts this year. In total, there were 75 pitchers who made 30+ starts. The next year, the number went up to 76. In 2005, it was even more. There were 78 pitchers who made at least 30 starts this season. In 2006, Justin Verlander won the AL Rookie of the Year award and he made 30 starts this season. This year, there were also 70+ pitchers who made 30+ starts. Moreover, there were 70+ pitchers who made at least 30 starts in each of the next 2 seasons. However, the number of pitchers who made 30+ starts dropped a little bit in 2009. Nonetheless, the number bounced back the next season. In 2010, there were more than 70 pitchers who made at least 30 starts and in 2011, the number didn’t change much.

Nevertheless, the number of pitchers who made at least 30 starts decreased to 65 in 2012. From 2012 to 2016, there were fewer than 70 pitchers who made at least 30 starts in each of these 5 seasons. Moreover, the number dropped dramatically in 2017. In this season, there were only 46 pitchers who made at least 30 starts. In 2018 and 2019, the number bounced back. There were 50+ pitchers who made at least 30 starts in each of these 2 seasons.

Well, the 2020 season was a shortened one and the leaders in games started were Kyle Freeland, Lance Lynn, German Marquez and Brandon Woodruff. They each made 13 starts. Over the last 2 years, there were 40+ pitchers who made at least 30 starts in each season. From 2000 to 2016, each season, there were more than 60 pitchers who made 30 starts. In particular, there were 8 times that we saw at least 70 pitchers who made 30+ starts in a single season. However, it seems that things have changed since 2017. We have seen that fewer pitchers made at least 30 starts in a single season. Thus, MLB teams certainly have different ideas on pitcher usage these years. Let’s see whether there will be fewer pitchers to make 30+ starts in 2023.