CHICAGO -- Back in mid-July, when he was still pitching for Triple-A Rochester, Tyler Duffey was having a conversation with Taylor Rogers about innings.
The two rotation mates, both former college pitchers drafted in 2012, realized at that point they had made the same number of 2015 starts while accruing the same number of innings. A "gentleman's bet," as Duffey called it, was hatched.
Whoever reached the end of the year with the highest number of innings would be declared the winner.
"That's when it starts to become a grind," Duffey said. "You start doing something just to trick yourself a little bit and just spark something back in you after the season starts getting long.