Do pitch counts do more harm than good?

  “Baseball is a better game for the fans when you have two starting pitchers engaged in a duel, rather than each pitching five innings and turning it over to a long series of interchangeable relievers.” – Bill James                           I was watching an interview the other day with Hall of Fame pitcher Fergie Jenkins.  He was talking about his workload as a starting pitcher.  Reminiscing about the good old days, Jenkins opined about the 4-man rotation and innings and pitch limits.  Being the ace of the Cubs staff,  Jenkins was slotted to pitch against the other team’s ace pitcher – say, a Bob Gibson of the rival St. Louis Cardinals - at every opportunity.  For home games, Jenkins would always pitch the marquee matchup on Fridays and would then pitch the following Tuesday. However, if the other team’s rotation shook out so that their ace was pitching on Sunday, well, Jenkins would pitch on the Sunday too – 3 times in one week.    It di...