19 things that've happened in sports since the Braves' Shelby Miller got a win

Jason Foster

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19 things that've happened in sports since the Braves' Shelby Miller got a win image

Braves pitcher Shelby Miller has become the unwitting personification of why pitcher wins might not be the best way to evaluate talent.

Since coming within one out of a no-hitter May 17 in a win against the Marlins in Miami, Miller has had 19 straight winless starts.

MORE: 10 greatest Braves of all time  

When he takes the mound Saturday against the Nationals hoping to end the team's 10-game losing streak, he’ll also seek to end the second-longest winless stretch for a pitcher in Atlanta history, despite having posted an ERA of 3.13 during that time. His overall 2.56 ERA ranks fifth in the NL, while he’s sixth in pitcher WAR, fifth in ERA+ and tied for first in shutouts (2). He even took another no-hitter into the eighth inning last month.

Point is, he's been good, regardless of the win tally. Meanwhile, the Braves have scored two or fewer runs for him in 14 of those past 19 starts and have gone 3-16 as part of season that’s spun out of control and could ultimately see them lose 100 games.

Miller’s streak has become so outrageous that it requires proper perspective. So here are 19 things that have happened in baseball, the greater sports universe and the world during Miller's 19-game winless streak, in no particular order.

19. Entering Saturday, 141 players made their major-league debuts. One hundred and forty-one, including 35 pitchers who have earned a win. One of those, Boston’s Eduardo Rodriguez, has won eight times since his May 28 debut.

18. NFL players enjoyed their last two months of the offseason, started training camp and played a month of exhibition games. Week 1 starts Thursday. Will the Steelers or Patriots win before Miller?

17. The NBA played all its semifinals and finals, and is more than two months into its offseason. And, except for one semifinal game, ditto the NHL. Just think, the last time Miller won a game the world hadn't seen a single Riley Curry Nae Nae gif. Or a million of them.

16. Teams made funny mashups with ‘80s sitcom openings. Not the Braves, though, so Miller doesn’t even have one to take his mind off the misery. Plus, the only show of note set in Atlanta is “The Walking Dead,” which, though apropos of the 2015 Braves, probably wouldn't be as entertaining for fans. (“Designing Women” doesn’t work either.)

15. Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, the All-Star Game (Hey, at least Miller was there!), the Hall of Fame inductions (in baseball and football) and both MLB trade deadlines have passed. Maybe Labor Day weekend will be different.

14. The Braves traded 15 players who were Miller’s big-league teammates at some point during the season, including Juan Uribe, who was acquired 10 days after Miller’s last win and played in 46 games with the Braves before being traded to the Mets, who have used him in 31 games through Friday. Perhaps related ...

13. The Braves have gone from a game under .500 and 3 1/2 games out of first place in the NL East to 20 1/2 games back and 27 games under .500 entering Saturday. Yes, it's been late-'80s bad in Atlanta.

12. All six of this year’s no-hitters happened. If not for a Justin Bour single, Miller would’ve had the first. The six pitchers who tossed the no-nos — Jake Arrieta, Mike Fiers, Hisashi Iwakuma, Cole Hamels, Max Scherzer and Chris Heston — have a combined 45 wins since Miller last picked up a W.

11. Four players have hit for the cycle, but none in games Miller pitched. So that’s something.

10. The HBO show “Ballers” got serious hype for a month, aired a full 10-episode season and is almost two weeks into its between-seasons hiatus.

9. HBO revealed the Texans would be its newest “Hard Knocks” team, then 2 1/2 months elapsed, the new season premiered and four of its five episodes aired.

8. Curt Schilling made more news with his Twitter hijinks — twice. One of the ‘jinks even involved Donald Trump, who was in the news for some reason.

7. Oh yeah, Donald Trump announced a month after Miller's last win that he’s running for president. Trump wasn't even everywhere yet. That's how long it's been. 

6. Five MLB general managers have resigned or been fired, while three field managers have resigned or been fired — including Mike Redmond, who was let go immediately after Miller’s May 17 near no-hitter. 

5. American Pharoah won the Triple Crown. That happened three weeks after Miller's last win. Who would've thought American Pharoah would secure that victory before Miller secured his?

4. The Nationals have gone from so-so to surging to plunging to not plunging as bad as before to leveling out but still kinda in trouble. Speaking of the Nats …

3. Bryce Harper has finally established himself as the consistently great player he was hyped to be and has become the NL MVP front-runner, much to the chagrin of Braves fans. Meanwhile …

2. The man the Braves traded to the Cardinals for Miller, Jason Heyward, has gone a long way toward establishing himself as the consistently great player he was hyped to be, much to the frustrated/jealous/sad chagrin of Braves fans. And finally ...

1. Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said he’s started to sour on pitcher wins. Let us repeat: A longtime member of the old-school, business-like, by-the-book, we-love-tradition Braves said pitcher wins might not be all they’re cracked up to be. This is a big deal.

And that could be the silver lining in Miller's season: The campaign to #KillTheWin may have found an official face and a wider audience — and shifted the discussion on what defines pitching success.

Jason Foster

Jason Foster Photo

Jason Foster joined The Sporting News in 2015 after stops at various news outlets where he held a variety of reporting and editing roles and covered just about every topic imaginable. He is a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and a 1998 graduate of Appalachian State University.