The baseball season is so long that it can’t help but be filled with endless debate. Is Mike Trout going to be the greatest player of all time? Is the defensive shift good for the game? Are the baseballs juiced?
Today, we’re hoping to provide you with an answer to one of those types of questions: Who has the best rotation in baseball? Mets fans like to think they do, in part because their starting pitchers have the league’s greatest hair. The Dodgers have a rightful claim since they employ Clayton Kershaw, the best pitcher in baseball. And the Red Sox have a pair of aces, Chris Sale and Rick Porcello, haunting the AL East, with David Price waiting in the wings.
But all of them are behind the Chicago Cubs, the team with the best rotation in baseball, according to FiveThirtyEight’s pitcher score metric.
Pitcher score takes into account a pitcher’s performance, looking at how deep he usually goes into a game, how dominant he is, and how many runs he allows.1 Applying that metric across the league, we can evaluate each team’s pitchers2 and how good a team’s rotation is.
And surprise, surprise: The best team in baseball has the best rotation in baseball. These days, it’s one title after another for those lovable losers.
Check out our MLB predictions.
