It’s fair to say that new fantasy players are likely very familiar with stats like wins, home runs, and RBI. However, some leagues do vary with what stats are counted. One such stat that could be of confusion is a quality start, a phenomenon that’s not seen often in MLB. But what exactly is a quality start in fantasy baseball? Here’s a quick explainer of what this term means in baseball.

Related: What does BE or BN mean in fantasy baseball?

Meaning of Quality Start in Baseball

A quality start in fantasy baseball is a stat that quantifies an outing in which a starting pitcher threw at least six innings and gave up three runs or fewer. The term is attributed to former Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter John Lowe.

The term quality start is usually denoted by “QS.”

Generally speaking, quality starts have become harder and harder to come by in the world of baseball. Much of that is thanks to the advent of matchups and pitch counts.

Many pitchers nowadays are strictly limited as to how many pitches they can throw in a game. Thus, this phenomenon has gotten rarer and rare over the years.

For example, there were 12 pitchers in Major League Baseball in 2023 that had 20 or more quality starts. Gerrit Cole and Logan Webb were the co-leaders in this category, as the two each had 24.

Twenty years earlier in 2003, 35 pitchers had at least 20 quality starts. That season, Tim Hudson and Esteban Loaiza were the co-leaders of MLB with 27 (h/t Baseball-Reference).

We should note that this stat is not one that every fantasy baseball player must worry about. Quality starts are not counted in all leagues, as it’s dependent on the format of one’s specific league.

But for those who do need to worry about it, make sure to research pitchers who consistently give length to their teams.