2019 MLB Draft Guide: Wins vs Quality Starts
Colby Conway dives into the ongoing debate over whether fantasy baseball leagues should continue using wins as a category or if the move to quality starts should be universal.

In a previous piece in the Draft Guide, I broke down earned run average (ERA) and WHIP, but this week, it’s time to talk wins and quality starts. Many fantasy leagues began by using the win stat and while some won’t necessarily have a problem with it, there are other leagues that have adopted quality starts into their league’s scoring system. Both statistics have their place in the fantasy game, including some of the biggest expert leagues in the business. However, these two categories aren’t flawless and as a sole metric, they are not indicative of the type of performer that pitcher was in that particular year.
A pitcher can win 16 games, so be it, but if he does it by means of a 4.74 ERA and 1.48 WHIP, we can all agree that he was incredibly lucky and likely rode a hot offense to a high win total. Sure, an outlier could exist, like Rick Porcello in 2016 when he had a career year, but even these players regress to their mean and are marginal at best the following season.
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