They won't get you fired. Ohio State did finish in the top half of the Big Ten and are in the Big Ten tournament with a 5.09 team ERA and 1.90 team WHIP. The WHIP number is tied last in the Big Ten and the ERA number is in the bottom 4. They just took 2 of 3 from Washington and took one from Oregon. Two years in a row they are in the NCAA top 3 in Home Runs(Last year they hit 147 HR's and got an at large bid). If they don't hit 119 Home Runs they are not .500. Here are a few other interesting Big Ten stats. UCLA team ERA 4.43 but 173 Home Runs and 567 runs made up for that. Nebraska 86 HR's(12th), 360 Runs(18th), with a 2.03 Team ERA(6th), gets you a regular season title. Worst numbers in HR's, Minn. 26, #12 seed, Mich St. 27 not in, Maryland 30 not in, Illinois 42 not in, coach fired. Rutgers, also not in, is an outlier with 74 HR's but they couldn't make up for a 5.75 Team ERA and 1.86 Team WHIP. The only other teams in Big 10 with less than 1 HR per game, Wisconsin - 45, Purdue - 49. Analysis point 1 - 3 of the 4 teams that did not make the Big 10 Tourney have the highest team ERA's,(exception Ohio State). Analysis point 2 - 3 of the 4 teams that did not make the Big Ten Tourney had the fewest home runs.(Exception Minn) Now here is the bombshell conclusion, combine good pitching with scoring runs and you win more than you lose. Combine poor pitching with no runs you lose more than you win. Pitching matters but so do HR's. If you are really bad you appear to bad at both. Other fun facts. UCLA's Team ERA is 4.43 and they are a top 10 team, why because the average 3.33 Home Runs per game. Dukes team ERA is 4.42 and they are top 15 team, why because the average 1.88 Home Runs per game. Only 30 teams have ERA's under 3.00. Oklahoma's team ERA is 3.02. 73 teams average better than 6 runs per game. 80 teams average better than 1 HR per game.