MLRanked - Every MLR Pitching Staff #5-1 (2018-19 Edition)
#5 - Pittsburgh Pirates
2017-18 Ranking: #6
The Pirates pitching staff has been quietly great after the departure of Darth Vader. No one highlights it more than Dylan Green, who showed himself a fantastic pitcher in the second half of 2017-18. He is even better now, with an ERA comfortably under 1.88. He's definitely one of the biggest All-Star snubs of the controversial Filet-Mignon Jackson debacle. His two rotation partners are very good as well, but don't boast that umph that really takes the Pirates any father than fifth. They should be proud, though, it's a great placement.
Baseball McBaseballface / Dylan Green / Foxx Dashington
Innings Pitched: 16.0 / 27.1 / 29.1
Earned Runs Allowed: 5 / 13 / 17
ERA: 1.88 / 2.85 / 3.48
WHIP: 1.25 / 1.06 / 1.40
Strikeouts: 6 / 18 / 14
D/BF: 259.60 / 254.35 / 246.13
pWAR: 0.573 / 1.749 / 0.685
#4 - San Francisco Giants
2017-18 Ranking: #11
"They should be number one!" I hear some fanatics screaming. Already while reading this I imagine Andrew Peters is changing his Discord username to my GM game statline. This is a brutal top 5, however; every single remaining rotation has one or two or even three guys sporting a pWAR comfortably over 1. Peters is a phenomenal pitcher, and it is insane that Vader is having what I would consider an off year for him. It's a great duo, and #4 out of 24 is not a bad place. The lack of depth and sheer quality of the arms competing with them makes me have to stamp them here.
Darth Vader / Andrew Peters
Innings Pitched: 35.0 / 33.1
Earned Runs Allowed: 13 / 13
ERA: 2.23 / 2.34
WHIP: 1.26 / 1.26
Strikeouts: 34 / 36
D/BF: 262.97 / 260.66
pWAR: 1.119 / 1.787
#3 - Montreal Expos
2017-18 Ranking: #9
The Expos roster is a shell of its old identity, the days of Cal Tiberius Jr. and Buttholo Colon. And I mean this in the best way. New GM Pete Jones has taken a dynamic approach to flipping it on its head, and Montreal has been made into one of the best teams in the league. It also has one of the bulkiest pitching rotations, including Jones herself, but each pitcher has shown themselves to be fantastic at their craft. Three of their five pitchers boasts a pWAR over 1, with Charles Magnus a close fourth in the .9s. Rookie closer Benjamin Abenduct has been quietly tearing up his appearances, sporting a perfect ERA through 11.1 and even making Tommy Foxconn blush.
The biggest thing that sets this rotation down is sample size. Though there are pitchers sporting IPs in the 20s, things seem a tad crowded, and no one really strikes me as a top-of-the-league arm. But every single one is quality, and could be an ace on half the MLR staffs.
Pete Jones / Benjamin Abenduct / Thomas Beowulf / Chris Orosz / Charles Magnus
Innings Pitched: 7.2 / 11.1 / 18.1 / 22.0 / 26.1
Earned Runs Allowed: 2 / 0 / 8 / 11 / 16
ERA: 1.57 / 0.00 / 2.62 / 3.00 / 3.65
WHIP: 1.17 / 0.71 / 1.15 / 1.14 / 1.10
Strikeouts: 4 / 6 / 15 / 10 / 26
D/BF: 269.73 / 276.44 / 249.21 / 241.98 / 243.90
pWAR: 0.353 / 1.168 / 1.214 / 1.136 / 0.908
#2 - Colorado Rockies
2017-18: #8
Hank Murphy is a dreamboat, ain't he? The NL West has been a battle between the Rockies and Giants the last few seasons, and I think this season will be seeing Colorado on top. Their pitching rotation is emblematic of this. It's more complete and it's overall a better product. Hank Murphy sports an unreal 278.98 D/BF, higher than the Expos closer phenom. And this dude has thrown close to three times the total innings! Garrett Evans has more than blown away expectations, turning his sophomore year into a quiet feat of dominance. Even Einhorn, with his worst season yet, has offset an ERA over 4 with a godlike strikeout percentage. This is a great rotation, I don't even need to say more.
Einhorn / Garrett Evans / Hank Murphy
Innings Pitched: 21.1 / 22.0 / 32.1
Earned Runs Allowed: 15 / 7 / 11
ERA: 4.22 / 1.91 / 2.04
WHIP: 1.13 / 1.23 / 0.96
Strikeouts: 34 / 20 / 23
D/BF: 260.32 / 243.11 / 278.98
pWAR: 0.898 / 1.236 / 1.624
#1 - Tampa Bay Devil Rays
2017-18 Ranking: #4
The Devil Rays are probably the most consistently high-ranked team of this early MLR generation. Their rotation is also elite. They are the only team with a pitcher worth over 2 pWAR.
...and they have two.
Tanner Hendrix and Ed Turner are arguably the best pitchers in baseball right now, both on the Devil Rays. Hendrix has carried an incredible amount of dominance considering he has pitched over 40 innings. Ed Turner, meanwhile, is pitching a 1.27 ERA with a WHIP of 0.76. That is unfair, especially if you consider his 8.11 K/6!
This is not even factoring in Daoud Mata and Wade Wilson, who some teams would kill to have on their squad. Their only sour spot is Mike Broson, who sports 6.1 innings under his belt and a 5.68 ERA. If you look closer, however, you'll see 4 of his earned runs were via the long ball. He has a 0.95 WHIP!
This is the best rotation in the major leagues. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like. Thank you for reading this season's edition of MLRanked.
Daoud Mata / Ed Turner / Mike Broson / Tanner Hendrix / Wade Wilson
Innings Pitched: 16.0 / 23.2 / 6.1 / 40.1 / 8.2
Earned Runs Allowed: 8 / 5 / 6 / 18 / 4
ERA: 3.00 / 1.27 / 5.68 / 2.68 / 2.77
WHIP: 1.06 / 0.76 / 0.95 / 1.36 / 1.50
Strikeouts: 22 / 32 / 8 / 47 / 9
D/BF: 265.09 / 250.86 / 265.72 / 257.74 / 249.76
pWAR: 0.695 / 2.637 / -0.009 / 2.013 / 0.100
