Pitcher wins/losses are dumb unless the Cincinnati Reds sink Jordan Lyles to 0-11

I’ll remind you that Luis Castillo led all of Major League Baseball in ‘losses’ during the 2021 season just before the Seattle Mariners unloaded the west wing of their farm system to acquire and, subsequently, sign him to a nine-figure contract. Individual pitcher losses are a comedy in themselves, a bygone statistic that never really carried much merit anyway then, much less now in the era of teams tanking on purpose.

Jordan Lyles leads all of Major League Baseball in losses, to date, and is 0-10 on the season. Has he been good at all this year? That would certainly be a no, his 6.84 ERA and 18 dingers allowed - the most in all of baseball - decidedly not bueno. Still, he sports a 1.29 WHIP over 73.2 IP so far, a WHIP that’s lower than the 1.43 mark owned by the guy who’ll split the Kauffman Stadium mound with him this evening.

That would be young lefty Brandon Williamson of the Cincinnati Reds, who is the owner of a 1.43 WHIP in his still-nascent career.

This is a longwinded way of suggesting that yes, pitcher wins are dumb as all hell...but that it would be rude, in a way, if the Reds couldn’t do their part to pile on Lyles and the Royals accordingly when given the rosy opportunity. They’ll get that chance at 8:10 PM ET, for the record, with a win perhaps inching them to within 2.5 games of first place in the hyper-dull National League Central.

They’ll do so without the services of Ricky Karcher, who was optioned back to AAA Louisville after last night’s heroics. The Reds announced the move just minutes ago as part of a series of larger moves mentioned below, with Daniel Duarte being called-up to take the open spot in the big league bullpen.

Go Reds.

Reds Lineup

Royals Lineup