Once again, the old and wise axiom of baseball comes to light: pitching is the name of the game. And they have good talent for their starting rotation, to such an extent, that they may well be considered the best in that aspect in all the Major Leagues.
How many teams can say they have the luxury of having men like Max Fried, Kyle Wright, Spencer Strider and Charlie Morton?
The first was second in the National League Cy Young Award voting and has a lifetime .684 winning percentage; No. 2 won 21 games; No. 3 was second in the Rookie of the Year Award and had a strikeout rate per nine innings of 13.8 when the MLB average was 8.5; No. 4 has 116 career wins and in 2022 had 10.7 strikeouts per nine innings.
For the fifth spot, the one that looks like the weak leg of the table, manager Brian Snitker will be able to dip into Ian Anderson, Michael Soroka, Huascar Ynoa, Kolby Allard, Jackson Stephens, Seth Elledge or Bryce Elder. In fact, there are so many options, most of these names will be in the bullpen or in the Minor Leagues.
EYE, we must also consider other teams with tremendous rotations, such as the New York Mets with Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer, Kodai Senaga, Carlos Carrasco, Jose Quintana for the last spot in the quintet; while the Philadelphia Phillies will have Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, Taijuan Walker, Ranger Suarez and Bailey Falter.
Also in the Old Circuit, the St. Louis Cardinals will have Adam Wainwrigh, Miles Mikolas, Jordan Montgomery, Jack Flaherty and Steven Matz. The Milwaukee Brewers will have Corbin Burnes, Brandon Woodruff, Eric Lauer, Freddy Peralta and Wade Miley in their ranks. Let’s not forget the Los Angeles Dodgers with Clayton Kershaw, Julio Urias, Noah Syndergaard, Dustin May and Ryan Pepiot.
In the American League, the New York Yankees: Gerrit Cole, Néstor Cortés, Luis Severino, Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt; Tampa Bay Rays: Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen, Zach Eflin, Jeffrey Springs and Yonny Chirinos; Toronto Blue Jays: Alek Manoah, Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi.
Also, Cleveland Rangers with Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill, Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac; Chicago White Sox with Dylan Cease, Lance Lynn, Lucas Giolito, Mike Clevinger and Michael Kopech; Minnesota Twins with Pablo Lopez, Sonny Gray, Joe Ryan, Tyler Mahle and Kenta Maeda.
Finally, the defending champions, Houston Astros will go with Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, Luis García, José Urquidy and Hunter Brown; Seattle Mariners: Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, Robbie Ray, George Kirby and Marco Gonzales; Texas Rangers: Jacob deGrom, Martín Pérez, Jon Gray, Nathan Eovaldi and Andrew Heaney.
Which of these will be on par with the Atlanta Braves?