– Why do NFL teams basically play one quarterback all/every game, while MLB teams play multiple pitchers?
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I didn’t see anyone in the comments mention this, lots of comments about reps, strength, frequency of play, etc.
In Football the most successful QB/WR pairings are _precise_. The QB is throwing a ball to where the WR _will be_, which might include turns in the route, or even deceptive jukes, running off-speeds, etc.
Any pass further than a shovel or screen usually has the WR totally blind to what the QB is doing when the ball is released – they’re turning to it, and finding it in the air.
As you can imagine, it is really difficult to throw a ball to a player who isn’t looking and is probably actively trying to deceive the other team as to where he will be. The absolute best QBs ever only do this right about 2/3rds of the time.
Furthermore, each play is slightly different, even if the exact same routes are run, depending on your field position, position between the hash marks, and options called at the line, etc.
So take all that, which basically relies on extensive practice and drills until the WR and QB are instinctually sync’d up on their rhythm, timing, position, etc., and substitute one QB for another mid-game.
Now there’s a new drop step pattern, a new throwing rhythm, a new preference for options, a new ball speed, throw strength, loft height, as each QB has a different and distinct throwing and style that at best has been adapted and ingrained over years of play, sometimes working with several different offensive coaches and play calling styles, or at worst is influenced by the QBs bad habits or injuries.
Imagine how hard that would be as a WR to adapt to, especially if your Coach is switching QBs in the middle of a drive or play sequence.
Anyway, that’s the main reason they don’t do it. There’s already too many variables, and swapping QBs would just make the inconsistency worse. If the QB can do the whole game, it makes offensive plays easier to execute, which is necessary because they’re already insanely hard to pull off.
Baseball is played almost daily for teams in the mlb, with some travel and rest days between. pitching 80-100 balls is a huge workout, probably equivalent to playing a full game at QB (obviously not in the sense of taking the tackles).
Each mlb starting pitcher will roughly play every 4-7 days, depending on where they are in rotation ect.
QBs will tend to have 5-7 days as well till their next game so it is somewhat equivalent.
Batters in the mlb can tend to play most games as they play much less of the game so to speak, since they’ll have about 3-5 plate appearances per game, then go fielding which will have a variable about of workout, but unlikely to reach the levels the pitcher is doing (most of the time)
Football and baseball are very different sports. Football plays 17 games a year while baseball plays 162. There are also several reasons as to why MLB teams change pitchers. Firstly, starting pitchers generally need 3-4 (typically 4) days to rest because throwing a baseball is more strenuous on the arm than throwing a football. Additionally, pitchers become less and less effective as the game progresses. The more times each hitter faces the pitcher, the more familiar and prepared they become. This necessitates a pitching change.
They probably need so many pitchers for sleep rotations since baseball games are like 24 hours long for a few minutes of activity.
Well for starters baseball is a totally different game, where by the coach may feel a certain “pitcher” would be better to pitch to a particular type of batter. With NFL the quarterback is facing multiple players not one, all capable of tackling him, but even then perhaps in some cases a coach may decide a certain quarter back would be suitable for a particular play more than another, actually at first when I read this question I was thinking you meant in NFL they only had one quarter back, which is not the case as they’d always have a few on standby.
Lots of answers that are basically correct, but to put it simply: “more games and more “wear and tear” on the throwing arm relative to each game.”
Those two factors. That’s it.
If the NFL played 6-7 days a week, they need more depth at EVERY POSITION because the players are getting destroyed and would need longer to recover – or to play less each game to reduce wear and tear.
NFL quarterbacks aren’t throwing basically as hard as they can every throw. They would be basically capable of making the throws needed for a game again in a day or two (arm only), but in baseball it’s a much higher expense of a pitcher’s “energy.” They’re literally blowing their wad every game.
Different pitchers bring different things to the table. A quarterback needs to synergize with his offense, but a pitcher needs to be good against the opposing batter. If the batter hits lefties well, you want a righty pitcher. If a batter hits fastballs, you want a pitcher that throws good off-speed pitches. Teams will design a pitching staff to have every possible option so that they can switch pitchers to have a favorable matchup as often as possible. And the more times a hitter sees a pitcher in a game the more advantage shifts towards the hitter. You don’t even want the same pitcher out there all game unless he’s on particularly good form.
A pitcher physically can’t do it and be effective. The best quarterback on your team is going to get sent out there every possession because he can. A pitcher can’t throw all 27 outs in a game, every game. That would require him to throw 100-200 pitches 5 times a day. Pitching a baseball at max effort is one of the most destructive things you can do to your body on purpose in sports. It’s pretty much expected that a pro pitcher will need to get their elbow reattached at least once in their career. The number of MLB players getting Tommy John surgery is also going up every year as modern understanding of body mechanics is allowing pitchers to extract an extra few MPH out of their arms. This costs them their arms, despite throwing fewer pitches than in the past. You used to have your best guy out there for every pitch. But he probably threw at half effort all game, and it’s better to have your best 10 guys throw max effort than your best one guy lobbing it in. A quarterback will throw far fewer max effort passes in their one game a week than a pitcher in even a typical inning of work. Sometimes because it’s impractical; the receiver’s gotta catch the thing. Sometimes because they’re in a disadvantageous position to plant and make a powerful throw. A pitcher never has that, and can throw
Strength of the throw – pitchers put a lot of stress on their arms and typically always throw hard. This hurts joints faster.
Number of throws – many more throws per game in baseball
Frequency of games – baseball games occur about 4-5x as much as football
Deception – pitching is a highly specific activity with quite a few rules around it. To be competitive, it’s often advantageous to have people with different throwing styles to keep batters guessing. Lefty vs Righty is the most obvious. In football, a QB fills a lot of rolls that often doesn’t even involve throwing. They fill more of a leadership position on the team and it’s not just about how fast/accurate they throw, somewhat contrary to baseball…
So with 2-3x the throws per game and 4-5x more games with throws being delivered with much more force in a more specialized, but demanding role, multiple pitchers are needed. Sometimes this is just strategy (like switching to a middle reliever for an inning or even less), but eventually it is absolutely needed. Pitchers back in the day used to commonly throw complete games and rack up easily 100+ pitches a night. I think they realized this is not only dangerous for the pitcher, but not advantageous assuming you can keep a few more pitchers on your roster
Simple math for starters.
A baseball starter can throw up to 100 pitches per game. A football player throws at most 50 passes a game.
After that it’s physical exertion/physics. A baseball pitcher is trying to throw a tiny ball as hard as they possibly can. Throwing a football by comparison is easier due to the shape and throwing motion. Also you are not trying to throw a football as far as you can every play. Many of the passes a QB makes are short passes which require little effort.
I always thought it might be a good idea to get rid of the idea of a starting QB who is a franchise player and just have 3 QBs who you can switch out throughout the game. This could make it a lot more interesting, IMHO.
I also think they should get rid of instant replay, punting, and plastic helmets, so I have some unorthodox opinions on football I guess.
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