1988: Major League Baseball begins tracking pitch counts as an official statistic.
1989: Then-23-year-old Al Leiter of the New York Mets throws 163 pitches in his second start of the year. Starting pitchers throw at least 140 pitches in 55 games this season.
No manager in their right mind would do this unless maybe if it was a 1 run game. That would be their only defense as to why they took him out. In real life, he would be hung from the rafters by the press and fans alike. The first thing I'd like to know is, what was the score? That's important. If it's 6-0, there is no excuse for taking him out. A real manager would leave him in until he at least gave up a hit. The AI thinking is suspect here. Need more info from this game.
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