It’s a baseball axiom almost as old as the game of baseball itself.
Pitching — starting pitching, in particular — wins championships. We only have …
It’s a baseball axiom almost as old as the game of baseball itself. Pitching — starting pitching, in particular — wins championships. We only have to go back to last season to see how the Washington Nationals relied heavily on Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin to go from wild-card survivors to World Series champs. So now that the smoke from a frenzied trade deadline has cleared, we’re able to take a closer look at how this season’s title contenders stack up at the top of their rotations — and how far their top three starters might be able to carry them in October. Why three? Because the first round of this year’s expanded playoffs are a best-of-three series. You need to win that first one to have a shot at the title. Bieber (6-0,1.20 ERA) has been the best pitcher in baseball this season, and the Indians’ rotation has been so good as a group, it’s hard to pick out a No.2 and 3. Civale has a 43-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio with the team’s second-highest innings total. And now that Plesac has been reinstated, he’ll have a chance to prove his 1.33 ERA is for real. If not, veteran Carlos Carrasco or rookie Triston McKenzie wait in the wings. If there’s a team that can follow the 2019 Nationals’ blueprint, it’s the Reds. Like the Nats, they just need to squeeze their way into the postseason. Despite Gray’s disastrous start on Tuesday, he and Bauer (2.13 ERA) have been excellent most every time out. Castillo joins them as the majors’ only trio of starters to average 12 strikeouts per nine innings. Advanced stats say Castillo’s 4.
