Online betting players know that you have to have a solid pitching rotation if you plan on making a run to the World Series, and these five teams have gotten some good work from their starters. This list could very well change by the time August rolls around (for example, Philadelphia should be in the top five come late summer), but here are the top five pitching rotations in the major leagues as we head into the dog days of June.
5. St. Louis
The Cardinals lead the majors in quality starts and are second in ERA, and in Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter, St. Louis may have the best one-two punch in all of baseball. Both finished in the top three of Cy Young voting last year behind San Francisco’s Tim Lincecum, and they’re on the same pace this year. Brad Penny was off to a great start after coming from San Francisco, but he’s been slowed down by a lat strain. The big surprise has been Jaime Garcia, who has a 1.14 ERA over his first nine starts of the season. The No.5 role goes to Kyle Lohse by default, and he has been his usual inconsistent-to-terrible self.
4. Tampa Bay
This was really close, and you could build an argument for the Rays having the best rotation. The Rays are second in quality starts and third in ERA, and while James Shields and Matt Garza are the senior guys and off to great starts themselves, David Price has been the jewel of the Tampa Bay rotation so far in 2010. The former first overall pick leads the American League in wins with seven, and he’s fourth in ERA at 2.41. Jeff Niemann’s 5-0 record is a pleasant surprise, and even Wade Davis has been decent. Be afraid of the Rays, be very, very afraid.
3. San Francisco
No MLB betting player saw Barry Zito being the Giants’ best pitcher this year, but through the first two months of the season, that has been the case as the veteran lefty has been the most consistent starter on the San Francisco staff. Matt Cain has gotten some bad luck with a 2-4 record despite a 2.88 ERA, and Lincecum is coming off a couple of bad starts, but still, he has won the last two Cy Young awards in the National League. Jonathan Sanchez, like Cain, has also suffered from luck and a lack of run support, while Todd Wellemeyer fills the No.5 role. The Giants rank fourth in both quality starts and ERA, and if Zito can keep it up, they should be in the top five all season.
2. Toronto
Hands up if you were a guy who bet MLB baseball and thought the Blue Jays were in huge trouble after trading Roy Halladay to Philadelphia, but now the question is, what would their record be if Halladay stuck around? The Blue Jays are 10th in quality starts, and four of their starters have taken no-hitters into the sixth inning. Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero are turning into a lethal one-two punch, and Brett Cecil has also shown a lot of promise. The bottom of the rotation is up in the air with Brandon Morrow and Dana Eveland, but the Blue Jays still have Jesse Litsch to come off the disabled list.
1. New York Yankees
Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte have been carrying the staff, and Hughes in particular has looked very good, showing that the decision to put him in the rotation over Joba Chamberlain was a smart one. Pettitte, on the other hands, isn’t pitching like a guy who is turning 38 in about two weeks. C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett have been maddeningly inconsistent, but are still capable of shutting a team down when they need to, and they still have good records. The Javier Vazquez experiment isn’t going so well though, as he has an ERA of 6.86 through his first nine outings, and one of those came from the bullpen, which is where he may have to go if the Yankees want to stay as a sports betting favorite to repeat in the World Series.
