Tanner Bibee’s entire season has been a bit weird on the pitching mound.
That remained true on Thursday afternoon when he started for the Cleveland Guardians against the Toronto Blue Jays.
Bibee put up a specific stat line that hadn’t been seen since 1973.
It’s not because it was particularly exceptional. It was just odd enough to make Bibee just the third pitcher ever to have this exact performance.
Tanner Bibee’s Near-Pitchergami
A baseball account on X posts about pitcher stats that come close to being entirely unique across the history of the game.
When accounting for innings, hits allowed, earned runs allowed, walks and strikeouts, it’s easier than you’d expect to achieve a never-before-seen feat.
Bibee was close.
He threw 4.0 innings against the Blue Jays, allowing four hits, five earned runs, five walks and striking out four.
The last time it happened was 1973 by Paul Splittorff.
The key, most likely, was that odd combination of four hits and five walks while lasting just four innings. Past-era starting pitchers went deeper into games by default, and the runs don’t necessarily match up with the baserunners Bibee allowed, either.
No Pitchergami.
Tanner Bibee | TOR @ CLE
4.0 IP | 4 H | 5 ER | 5 BB | 4 K
This stat line has been thrown 2 times before. The last time this was thrown was on 1973-08-08 by Paul Splittorff.
— Pitchergami (@pitchergami) September 3, 2026
Also, for those who hadn’t heard of him, Paul Splittorff is just an incredible name for a pitcher.
Splittorff was a 25th-round draft pick who managed to pitch 15 years in the major leagues, all for the Kansas City Royals.
He had 166 MLB wins in his career, and he also had a rare enough outing that it hadn’t been equaled exactly until Bibee did it on Thursday, 53 years later.
Tanner Bibee’s Weird Year
Even before this, everything about the 2026 MLB season has been a bit weird for Bibee.
He entered Thursday with a 5-14 won-loss record, which doesn’t add up with his ERA, which was just below 4.00.
It also doesn’t add up with his quality starts. Somehow, Bibee had put together 17 quality starts (at least six innings, three or fewer runs allowed), and yet he had just five wins.
His 17 quality starts entering Thursday were tied for second in the American League with none other than Cam Schlittler, the Yankees phenom who is in contention for the Cy Young.
Bibee hasn’t pitched as well as Schlittler, as some of his other numbers reveal, but he certainly has been incredibly unlucky.
He wasn’t necessarily unlucky on Thursday. It wasn’t a quality start against Toronto. Bibee couldn’t find the strike zone.
But still, it has to have been a bit frustrating for Bibee this season. Even when he’s had his good stuff, it often hasn’t led to good results for the Guardians.
Guardians’ Tanner Bibee Puts Up Stats Not Seen Since 1973