The Jackson 5 may have sang “Easy as 123” but for a pitcher on the mound things aren’t quite as simple.

The goal is certainly to retire the side in order every time, but it doesn’t always happen that way and often that can be what separates a good pitcher from a great one.

Earlier this week, while watching the Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks from the Chase Field press box, a colleague and I were discussing how many batters reach base with two on and no outs.

In that particular game the starting pitchers retired the first two batters faced in each of the first two innings, but in all four half innings the third batter reached (two of them scored).

Not only does allowing the third batter to reach open up the potential for a run to score, but it extends the inning.

If the pitcher retires the fourth batter of the inning, it may look like a “no harm, no foul situation,” but that’s not exactly the case.

The pitcher now has to throw more pitches, which if this situation happens of couple of times in a game, will certainly add up.

Those extra base runners could be the difference between a starter going five innings vs six or six vs seven, which then puts extra stress on the bullpens.

It’s a compounding problem and the more I thought about it the more curious I was so I looked up some numbers in the National League West.

It should come as no surprise the when there are two outs and none on the Los Angeles Dodgers, in first place in the division, have allowed opponents to hit just .229 (with an on-base percentage of .309).

Also to no surprise, Dodgers starters have pitched the most innings in the division with 337 1/3. Of course, having Clayton Kershaw in the rotation helps that number as well.

As for how the rest of the division pitches with none on and two outs …

Team (in order of standings)	Opponent batting avg	Opponent on-base %	Starters innings pitched
San Francisco Giants	270	334	339 2/3
San Diego Padres	243	313	338
Arizona D-backs	251	315	310
Colorado Rockies	249	335	289

The numbers don’t align perfectly with the standings, but with the exception of the Giants it’s clear that the better teams are the ones that do a better job of getting out of innings as soon as possible.