I don’t follow baseball like I did from 2010-2018, but this season I started to keep up a little bit. Middle of the year, I check which pitcher has the most wins to see if anybody could be on pace for 20 this year. I understand wins aren’t the most valuable stat but I’m always curious if somebody will reach that 20-win landmark in today’s pitching climate.

Who leads the league at the time in wins? Aaron Ashby. I think, “that’s pretty random, haven’t heard of that starter before”. Come to find out he’s a reliever. Must be a fluke. I check back several weeks later, and reliever Aaron Ashby still leads mlb in wins with 12. Okay, this is getting interesting now, but I still haven’t seen him pitch.

Playoffs arrive, and I finally see him in action. He’s absolutely filthy, and in a way we don’t see much anymore. He doesn’t throw 100, he throws lots of strikes, and so far this postseason has allowed 0 runs, struck out 17, walked 3, and has allowed 8 runners in 15 2/3 IP.…