Coming into the season, one of the biggest stories that many people, myself included, were on the lookout for was how the return to the normal, pre-pandemic season length might affect pitching staffs. After American League pitching staffs averaged only 519 innings total in the shortened 2020 season, the 2021 season would require, using the 2019 average of 1446, an increase of more than 250 percent. As many expected, injuries that required stints on the injured list were on the rise, at least in the early days of the season — driven in part due to an overabundance of caution, but also in large part due to an increase in major injuries compared to last year.
How did the shortened season affect 2021 inning distributions?
