It’s easier to go deep into games when the umps call the top 8 inches of the strike zone. Also a 4 man rotation helps accumulate wins and losses.
Speaking of knucklers, look at the innings pitched and era of Wilbur Wood in the early-mid 70s.
Freegards
The WS Dodgers of the 70s had a 5 man rotation (hooten, T. John/Welch, Sutton, Rhoden and Rau). The first four all had been 20 game winners. It does help when you win more games!
Your first sentence says a lot, but offense is so far down now, they’re probably thinking of shrinking the strike zone or lowering the mound . I wonder whether Morneau or anybody else in NL will be able to keep BA >.300, or if we’ll have another ‘68 when Yaz won AL batting title at .299.
Wood pitched 400 innings a year. I understand that 40 years ago there were 4 man rotations be, so a starter had 8 extra starts per season. The 5 man rotation decreases 20 game winners, and ensures that no vBulletin one will ever win 30 again. What I don’t understand is the pitch count. I never remember Gibson, Seaver or Carlton on pitch counts. I guess that relievers are so specialized now that a starter just has to go six or seven.