Win
The pitcher of record when his team takes the lead for good.
What it actually is. The win is credited to the pitcher of record when his team takes a lead it does not give back, with a five-inning minimum for a starter.
What a scout reads off it. It says as much about the offense and the bullpen as about the pitcher. A pitcher can throw eight shutout innings and lose, and throw four bad ones and win, which is why it stopped being the way pitchers are evaluated a generation ago.
Where the lines are. Twenty wins is the traditional marker of an ace season and is now rare, because starters take the ball less often and finish fewer games. Cy Young's 511 career wins are from another game entirely.
How it lies to you. Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young in 2010 with 13 wins on a bad team, which is the moment the award voters publicly stopped treating this number as the answer.
Batter's Eye: look up anything in baseball