Page 17 - ARUBA TODAY

A17
Thursday 28 March 2019

MISMATCHED

In this Sept. 2, 2018, file photo,
Houston Astros manager AJ
Hinch (14) pulls starting pitch-
er Gerrit Cole (45) with two
runners on base and two out
in the sixth inning of a base-
ball game against the Los An-
geles Angels, in Houston.
Associated Press
Complete

games,

shutouts

nearly

extinct in

today's

baseball

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.
(AP) — The complete
game is nearly completely
gone from baseball. Shut-
outs are vanishing, too.
The numbers are striking.
Go back to 1978, and
there were more than
1,000 complete games in
the majors. Move to 2003,
and the total was about
200. In 2018, though, there
were only 42 — the lowest
total in the sport's history,
according to Baseball-Ref-
erence .com — and just 19
of those were shutouts, the Tiger, McIlroy winners of their opening
fewest since the 1870s.
Or to put it a different way:
Roughly every other game rounds at WGC-Match Play
featured a starter who
went the distance 40 years
ago, whereas about one Rory McIlroy reacts to a missed putt during round-robin play at the Dell Match Play Championship golf tournament, Wednesday,
in every 55 games did last March 27, 2019, in Austin, Texas. Associated Press
season. Page 18
Continued on Page 22