Someone wrote the other day wondering how saves and complete games were running compared to last year. Early in the season, it looked like saves were down. That's turned around in a big way. At the same point in the season last year, there were 734 saves in 1099 opportunities, a 66.8 save percentage. This year, there are 735 saves in 1074 opportunities, a 68.4 save percentage.

Complete games continue to run higher than last year, which may account for the drop in save opportunities. Through the same point in the season, 2004 showed 84 complete games in 2900 starts, or 2.9% complete games. In 2005, pitchers have completed 120 games in 2914 starts, or 4.1%.

One reason for the better save and complete game number is that offense continues to be down. (I'm not stating cause and effect; I don't know if it's better pitching or poorer hitters who are causing the offensive drop.) Runs per game are running at 9.3 per game vs. 9.6 per game at the same point in the season in 2004. Home runs are down slightly, from 2.20 to 2.06 per game.