MLB Opening Day 2012: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers Show Uselessness of Wins

Wins might be flashy statistics that help MLB pitchers earn major paydays in contract extension talks, free agency and arbitration, but they're not exactly the most useful measure of evaluating performance. Kudos to Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers for showing that on Opening Day. 

As a point of clarification, I'm not talking about team victories, but rather the individual wins and losses that are tagged on next to a pitcher's name whenever it's displayed on a computer or television screen. 

So let's take a look at what happened during the first game of the new-look Tigers 2012 campaign and examine just how Jose Valverde's "masterful" performance resulted in a win, while Justin Verlander's "mediocre" first outing left him with a no decision. The words in quotes appear as such because that's how I have to describe the respective performances after the updates to their win-loss records, right? 

Starting his season off with a 91 MPH changeup that resulted in a called strike against Jacoby Ellsbury, the reigning AL Cy Young and MVP sat down the first three batters of the contest before allowing a double to David Ortiz in deep left field. That would be just one of two hits that he surrendered against the Boston Red Sox. 

Verlander wouldn't allow another base hit until the fifth inning, when Ryan Sweeney worked a 2-1 count and sent a soft line drive back over second base and into center field. 

At the end of the eighth inning, in which the flame-throwing righty needed just 10 pitches to retire the Sox in order, Verlander left the game with a 2-0 lead. He'd absolutely done his job, keeping a potent lineup scoreless over those eight frames, striking out seven batters and only giving up two hits and a lone walk (to the always-dangerous Adrian Gonzalez).

Enter Jose Valverde.  

Surely the game was in hand since the closer shut the door in all 49 appearances last year and walked out to the mound with a streak of 51 games with no blown games, dating all the way back to Sep. 2, 2010. 

But then everything fell apart. Dustin Pedroia opened the inning with a line-drive double to center field and advanced to third base just two pitches later on an Adrian Gonzalez single. All of a sudden, the tying run was on base and Big Papi represented the go-ahead run at the plate. 

David Ortiz managed to send a sacrifice fly out to Austin Jackson in center field, cutting the Tigers lead to 2-1. After Valverde struck Kevin Youkilis out on a foul tip, Ryan Sweeney tripled, driving home Darnell McDonald, who was pinch-running for Gonzalez. The game was tied, and Verlander's masterful eight innings could no longer get the credit they deserved. 

After the inning ended on a Cody Ross line-out, the Tigers loaded the bases with one out for Austin Jackson, who completed a 3-for-5 performance with a walk-off single to earn the 3-2 victory. 

Valverde, who did nothing in the decisive bottom of the ninth, was credited with the win thanks to his one inning of work. In that inning, he allowed three hits and two runs, one and two more than Verlander allowed in eight innings, respectively. 

So what's my point with all of this? 

Well, I needed something to help me overcome the inevitable bitterness that surfaced when my fantasy squad was robbed of a win. Making lemonade out of the lemons, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to start the season off with a quick lesson. 

Please don't ever try to make the argument that Pitcher A is better than Pitcher B because he has a couple more wins. Find a better way to draw that conclusion before you open your mouth, put your fingers on a keyboard or put pen to paper. 

The difference between a 15-win season and a two-win season is significant, because eventually the sample size minimizes the effect of the outliers, but a one- or two-game difference is negligible at best. 

Wins are dependent upon the performance of the offense, something that the pitcher has little control over, especially in the American League. 

Even though statistics like quality starts or ERA have their own flaws, you'd be much better off skipping the wins angle entirely.