Max Scherzer Gets Win No. 200 as Mets Clinch Postseason Berth

And managers do not take chances once that pitch count starts to rise. Only three pitchers this season have been allowed to throw as many as 120 pitches in a single game after only five got to that number last season. For reference, in 1988, the first year in which Baseball Reference has accurate pitch counts, there were 598 games in which a starting pitcher threw 120 or more pitches despite there being four fewer teams in Major League Baseball at the time.

The cruel thing with Scherzer, though, and with Kershaw before him in a similar start back in April, is that both of them had been remarkably efficient and seemingly had a chance of finishing off their perfect game bids without running up their pitch counts. But the bids happened to come in starts where the veteran pitchers were coming back from injuries, which made their managers even more conservative than they might have been otherwise.

Even when the situation is not as cut-and-dried, pushing a starter in hopes of getting him an individual accomplishment has largely become a thing of the past. It is sound reasoning even if it can be difficult to stomach in the moment. And it is the same logic that has made the 200-win club, once a mark for a fairly good but not great starter to strive for, suddenly exclusive.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/sports/baseball/max-scherzer-200-wins-mets-playoffs.html