Tigers' Scherzer is 13-0, but impressive record doesn't tell whole story

Fans will be wary of advanced fielding stats as long as there are inexplicable swings like that. But any intelligent fan can see that we have better ways to

Michael Rosenberg | Jul 11, 2013

Tigers' Scherzer is 13-0, but impressive record doesn't tell whole story /

Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer is having a career year, but he's more pleased with his WHIP (0.946) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5-to-1) than his 13-0 record. — Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer is having a career year, but he's more pleased with his WHIP (0.946) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5-to-1) than his 13-0 record / Getty Images

Fans will be wary of advanced fielding stats as long as there are inexplicable swings like that. But any intelligent fan can see that we have better ways to measure baseball greatness than the wins, RBIs and other stats we used 30 years ago. Max Scherzer's win-loss record is 13-0. Also, he is having one hell of a year.

Published Jul 11, 2013

MICHAEL ROSENBERG

Michael Rosenberg is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, covering any and all sports. He writes columns, profiles and investigative stories and has covered almost every major sporting event. He joined SI in 2012 after working at the Detroit Free Press for 13 years, eight of them as a columnist. Rosenberg is the author of "War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in a Time of Unrest." Several of his stories also have been published in collections of the year's best sportswriting. He is married with three children.