Heading into this season, the focus was on Bradoon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes. This was justified since both were expected to compete for the coveted Cy Young award.
Question marks were surrounding the rest of the rotation. Could Freddy Peralta put it all together? Could Anderson stay healthy? Would the 5th starter be Houser, Lauer, or Lindblom?
This rotation was expected to be good, but it was not expected to be this good. At the beginning of the season, I had Matt Pauley of @620WTM on my podcast. We both agreed that the pitching could potentially be a problem once opponents made it past the first two starters. Boy, were we surprised.
Woodruff and Burnes have been absolutely ace-like. They are the 1A and 1B of the rotation. Freddy Peralta has completely disregarded the Fastball Freddy moniker and has become a complete pitcher.
In fact, he is pitching well enough to be considered the ace of any staff that does not already include two aces.
Although, it took a while, eventually all three were named to the All Star team and deservedly so.
I may be drinking the Kool-Aid, but I believe this is one of the better 3 starters since the Big Three in Oakland almost twenty years ago. That trio of Hudson, Molder, and Zito was the catalyst that propelled those “Moneyball” teams into the playoffs.
This year, the Brewers are riding their young arms on that same path to the playoffs. The Brewers have struggled to string together hits all season, yet they are in first mostly due to their pitching. There is no team in baseball that wants to face these 3 in a short playoff series.
Is this the best starting 3 in baseball? There are a few teams that might take offense to this question. According to Baseball reference, The Dodgers have the best rotation and the Brewers are ranked 5th.
The Dodgers have the best team ERA, but that may change, as they may be without Trevor Bauer for the rest of the season as he deals with his off the field allegations. However, Walker Buehler, Luis Urias, and Clayton Kershaw still form a respectable one, two, three, punch.
Just for fun, I thought I would compare our top 3 starters in the rotation to those of the Dodgers. After all, in a playoff series, teams rarely go 4 or 5 deep in the rotation.
First, let’s compare Woodruff and Buehler. They have both started 18 games for their teams. Buehler is 9-1 on the season and has an ERA of 2.36 with 114 strike outs. Woodruff has fewer wins, but he has an ERA of 2.06 . Buehler has also had a ton of run support , 6.3, comparted to the 3.6 runs per game for Woodruff.
Corbin Burnes and Julio Urias are both number 2 starters on their teams. Burnes is 4-4 with a 2.36 ERA, while Urias is 11-3 with a 3.64 ERA. Burnes has started 3 fewer games, but still leads Urias in strikeouts by 9. Urias has far more wins, but he also leads in run support 6.5 to 3.1. It is no secret the Brewers struggle to score runs, especially on days that Burnes pitches.
Clayton Kershaw is not the ace he used to be, but he is having a quality season. He is 9-7 with a 3.39 ERA. He has started one more game than Freddy has, but Peralta leads him in strikeouts and has a higher strikeout per 9. Freddy is 7-3 with a 2.39 ERA and is in the middle of a breakout season.
Do the Dodgers have a good rotation? absolutely. However, when it comes to a short playoff series, I’ll roll with the Brewers rotation any day of the week.
The Brewers have already seen the Dodgers this season, and were not intimidated by them at all. If the Brewers want to win the National league, they will have to beat the best teams. So far, they have faced teams such as the Dodgers and Padres and did not disappoint. There are a lot of good teams to beat this season, but with this rotation, anything is possible!