Shutouts and even complete games are mostly relics of the past. Getting through six and handing the ball to a parade of relievers stretching even a well-pitched game to 3+ hours is the norm now. Those pitchers who used to work deeper into games also used to pitch on four-days rest in a previous era.
This is evidenced by innings pitched and number of batters faced.
Here’s a look at the trend of batters faced by the top five starting pitchers who received Cy Young votes in 10-year intervals:
- 2019 (802)
- 2009 (918)
- 1999 (929)
- 1989 (992)
- 1979 (1093)
- 1969 (1141)
Blake Snell won the American League Cy Young Award in 2018, leading the league in wins but pitching just 180 innings. He and Clayton Kershaw (198.1 innings in 2014) are the only starters to win the award with under 200 innings pitched (in a non-strike-shortened, or virus-shortened, season).