The 2021 season was a bit of a strange one for MLB pitching, but it appears that things are trending back towards normalcy thus far in the 2022 season.
From a pitching standpoint, the 2021 MLB season produced far different results than the previous full season, or any recent full seasons.
Last season, only five pitchers won 15 or more games, only four hit the 200-inning mark, and just 17 pitchers reached 200 strikeouts. By contrast, in 2019, the previous full season, 17 pitchers won at least 15 games, 15 pitched at least 200 innings, and 24 had at least 200 strikeouts.
A big reason for the drop-off was the six-man rotations that teams employed after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.