This is probably an idea I’ll explore in an offseason feature, but there are some players who look way better than they really are. As in, if no one kept track of any stats -- innings pitched, strikeouts, runs allowed -- there are some players who would be thought of way more highly than anyone else.
Tigers vs. Rangers: Porcello Perfect, Harrison Wild, Game Scoreless Through One
The best example might be Rick Porcello. If you watch him for an inning which he's effective, like was the first inning of Game 4, he looks like the toughest pitcher to hit on the planet. He throws a 94-m.p.h. sinker that moves like a whiffle ball. There shouldn't be a way for anyone to hit him, but on average he allowed a run in every other inning he pitched. He's the anti-Shaun Marcum. Well, anti-the-Shaun-Marcum-from-August, at least.
Porcello retired the side on eight pitches in the first, throwing seven strikes. It looked like that was how he always pitches.
Matt Harrison walked two hitters in the bottom-half of the first, but he mixed a double play in between. He threw 20 pitches, just nine of them for strikes.













