That's quality

Solid pitching has been a staple of the Wild Things. During their first six seasons, the Wild Things didn't finish worse than fourth in the Frontier League in team ERA.

There were a couple of lean pitching years since, but the Wild Things seemed to correct most of those problems this season. Washington won the league's ERA title for the first time since 2002, posting a 3.62, which was .14 better than second-place Lake Erie. Frontier League champion Joliet finished fifth at 4.06.

The strength of the pitching was the group of starters, even after losing opening day starter Vidal Nuno and FL Rookie of the Year Casey Barnes to affiliated ball. The Wild Things set the league record for quality starts (at least six innings pitched and no more than three earned runs allowed) with 59.

Justin Hall had 14 quality starts among his 20 outings, and they weren't the cheap 6-inning, 3-run variety. Hall led the league in innings pitched and complete games. The 14 quality starts equals the team record set by Aaron Ledbetter in 2007, when he went 14-2. Every start Hall made after the all-star break was rated a quality start, including his 11-inning, 14-strikeout outing on the final day of the season at Windy City.

All of this, combined with the Wild Things finishing in fifth place in the East Division, tells you just how dreadful the Washington offense was. The Wild Things' offense finished last in the league in batting average, hits, runs, walks, doubles, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. As one visiting manager at Consol Energy Park said this season, "It's not hard to crack the Wild Things' lineup these days."

With the pitching staff it had, if Washington produced only an average hitting team, there's a good chance it would have made the playoffs.

Quality Starts by Team in 2011
*59 - Washington
49 - Windy City
48 - Normal
47 - River City
42 - Florence
41 - Joliet
39 - Lake Erie
36 - Gateway
36 - Southern Illinois
35 - Rockford
34 - Traverse City
31 - Evansville

* League record.