I know there's been 20 combined no hitters in MLB history, one of which belongs to the Brew Crew, with the latest of them being thrown by the Tigers today.
Huzzah. I'm happy for them.
But . . .
Why the heck does that even count?
For one guy to go out there and thrown a complete game, getting 27 outs without surrendering a hit, that's impressive.
It takes skill, control, luck, and perhaps most importantly of all, stamina. Folks don't pitch complete games in the modern game, they just don't. So come the 8th inning, when their arm is aching and they're running on fumes, and the opposing batters can sense blood in the water, it's just plain grit and skill that enables them to power though.
Where exactly does that last bit come into play in a combined no-hitter?
Oh, you're tiring out in the 6th. Boo hoo. Let's yank you out for a fresh arm. Oy, your replacement isn't very good against lefties and the 8th is full of them? No matter, new guy on the mound.
To me, celebrating a combined no-hitter is like bragging about getting a perfect score on a test, when you subbed in another guy to do the algebra bit, and then had the math wiz step in to solve the big calculus problem at the end.
Some things just shouldn't be a group effort. Period.
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