How to Determine a Win in Baseball

While a casual baseball fan might track the wins and losses of his favorite team, a more fastidious one might look at how specifically each win is recorded. While this is only one measure of a pitcher's effectiveness, the win can be used to determine a pitcher's relevance to the team's final record.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Baseball game

1. Know that awin is typically awarded to the pitcher for the winning team who was in the game, or on-record, at the time his team took its final lead. This may seem obvious, but there are some nuances to the rule.

2. Consider a starting pitcher who completes five innings and exits the game with his team ahead, never to relinquish the lead, is credited with the win. This type of pole-to-pole win is the most obvious.

3. Know that a pitcher can record a win from the bench, if he finishes an inning with his team losing, but his team recovers to take the lead in the hitting half of that inning. Even if that pitcher does not record another out, he would be the pitcher of record when his team took the lead.

4. Be aware that if the starting pitcher for a team does not pitch at least five innings, and the team leads from start to finish, the win is awarded by the game's official scorer who determines which pitcher on the winning team was the most effective.