Baseball question

Although I am not a huge fan nor an expert, with the Washington Nationals in the playoffs I am watching. My question has to do with why are there so many pitchers? It seems to me that way back when, the same pitcher pitched the entire game. Now there are so many, I can't keep track. What happened?

• Baseball players are stronger now. They do constant conditioning of their muscles, work out, lift weights (take steroids, lol). They throw much faster and harder than pitchers of old, so the potential for injury is much higher the longer they use their pitching arms.

• [quote] My question has to do with why are there so many pitchers? Because they can afford it. They'll introduce relief pitchers who throw hard and fast for an inning or two. There's no rule against it, so why not?

• Who gets the win then, R2? WHERE'S Della?!

• The game is all about pitching so they don't want a pitcher getting tired and sloppy, allowing batters to get a hit.

• Just as with almost all modern professions, it's an ever-more-specialized craft. If an organization invests millions of dollars in a player, they'd like to keep him functioning at his highest level for the longest time; so if they limit the number of pitches he throws (for a starter), then they can get more "quality starts" out of him. At that point they can bring in a "set up" relief pitchers, who basically specializes in getting the game through to the guy who closes it out and gets the saves. So you have a guy who can throw a few dozen pitches (the setup man) and the guy who throws maybe a dozen pitches (or fewer) to slam the door. That's why the Nationals shut down Strasburg, because he was coming off major surgery, and he'd hit a limit of innings pitched that they set for him. (Though there are those who say might as well get as much out of him as you can because he's not that highly paid yet).

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• NB: if the starting pitcher leaves the game with his team ahead after more than (I think) 5 innings, he gets the win. If the lead changes hands, the pitcher who's on the mound at the end of the inning in which his team goes ahead gets the win. If a relief pitcher faces the winning or tying run, or the winning or tying run is on deck, and he preserves the win, he gets a save.

• Also: Let's Go Os!

• R5, has the active player roster been expanded? I seem to recall that each team used to only be allowed to have 25 active players to pick from during a game. Is that the case now?

• They have 25 until Sept. 1, then they are allowed to increase the roster to 40 until the end of the regular season. They have to go back to a 25-man roster for the playoffs, but it doesn't need to be the same 25 players from the end of the season (if someone is injured in September, for example, or a rookie has a tremendous month).

• Never mind, R5. I Wiki'ed the answer. I never knew about the expanded post-season roster (all 40 players) before.

• Thanks, R5/R9. I should have waited!

  R6/R8

• Whoops - I wasn't R6, just R8 (etc.)

  Roster%20guy.

• I am in love with r5, a Lezbo. I would rent a U-Haul and lick your clit, Stat. But chances are that I would not be able to find your clit b/c I've never seen one before. What do you think of my husbear, Brian Wilson, of the SF Giants? How about those Oakland A's? Are we moving forward this playoff season?? You are my hero, you non-penised-person, you.

• Um, R13? You're trying too hard.

  Roster%20guy.

• Like the poster said, the winning pitcher is whoever has the lead after the fifth inning, assuming that pitcher is the starting pitcher, and assuming the lead is preserved for the rest of the game. After the starting pitcher is out of the game (and let's say he leaves with a tie game or the lead is lost) the victorious pitcher is whoever was on the mound in either the top or bottom half of the inning when the 'winning' run was scored.

• Tim Lincecum's doing a great job as a relief pitcher ... for a two-time Cy Young award winner.