Hate to go all Grampa Simpson on you, but back in my day, children, we had something called ¡°rotations¡± and ¡°bullpens,¡± and I would use this space to rank them separately.
Ah, but baseball has changed. And knowing what we know about the attrition rate and how pitchers are utilized, it has ceased to make sense to throw out antiquated terms like ¡°starting fives¡± and ¡°closers.¡± Instead we¡¯ll just look at the entire assembly of arms a given team has at its disposal and project how equipped that club is to survive and thrive in the coming season.
Hence, this list of the best pitching staffs in baseball.
Though I am confident that looking at total staffs is the best way to go about this, I am not at all confident in the list I am about to put forward. These days, when even the seventh guy out of the bullpen has stuff that zips and zooms, and when injuries run rampant, surprises abound. (Look what¡¯s happened to the Yankees and Mets just since camp started).
But these 10 teams look like they can keep runs off the board¡ for now!
1) Dodgers
Top starters: RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, LHP Blake Snell, RHP Tyler Glasnow, RHP Shohei Ohtani, RHP Roki Sasaki
Key relievers: LHP Tanner Scott, RHP Kirby Yates, RHP Michael Kopech, RHP Blake Treinen, LHP Alex Vesia
You might remember the Dodgers from the No. 1 spot in such columns as ¡°Top 10 Lineups in MLB.¡± This is the same team. It ranks No. 1 on both lists. Now, if we were doing lists like ¡°Top 10 Cold-Weather Teams¡± or ¡°Top 10 Teams That Don¡¯t Wear Blue¡± or ¡°Top 10 Teams That Don¡¯t Have Most of the Country Annoyed at Their Excellence,¡± I can promise you the Dodgers would not rank No. 1.
But best lineups and pitching staffs? Unavoidable. Sorry.
I don¡¯t know what analysis I can really add here. The Dodgers¡¯ rotation is so stacked that we didn¡¯t even have room to mention Dustin May (who opens the season as the fifth starter while Ohtani continues his recovery from Tommy John surgery), Clayton Kershaw, Tony Gonsolin or Bobby Miller above. And the bullpen, which already improved a great deal with the midseason acquisition of Kopech last year, went and added two of the best relievers in baseball in Scott and Yates.
So ¡ let¡¯s just go to the next spot on the list before the Dodgers acquire someone else.
2) Phillies
Top starters: RHP Zack Wheeler, RHP Aaron Nola, LHP Cristopher S¨¢nchez, LHP Ranger Su¨¢rez, LHP Jes¨²s Luzardo
Key relievers: RHP Jordan Romano, LHP Matt Strahm, RHP Orion Kerkering, LHP Jos¨¦ Alvardo, LHP Tanner Banks
They don¡¯t have the crazy amount of depth that the Dodgers possess. But pound for pound, a healthy Phillies staff could outpitch L.A. and anyone else.
Wheeler is the best active pitcher without a Cy Young Award (he has been the NL runner-up twice in the past four seasons), Nola is his co-ace, Su¨¢rez was an All-Star last season, and S¨¢nchez (also an All-Star) has what it takes to figure prominently into the Cy conversation this year. If trade acquisition Luzardo can reclaim his pre-2024-injuries output (129 ERA+ between 2022-23), the Phillies will have the kind of rotation that once landed them on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Top prospect Andrew Painter, who has been compared to a young Justin Verlander, looms as a very attractive depth option.
The ¡®pen looks a lot different than it did at the end of 2024, as Jeff Hoffman and Carlos Est¨¦vez departed in free agency. Strahm is back after an All-Star season, though his spring shoulder issue is an early red flag and the Phillies are unsure if he¡¯ll be ready for Opening Day. Young Kerkering is really catching on (2.29 ERA, 1.08 WHIP last year), and the Phillies have reasonable bounceback candidates in Alvarado and free-agent acquisition Romano. Hopefully Strahm is OK.
3) Braves
Top starters: LHP Chris Sale, RHP Spencer Strider, RHP Reynaldo L¨®pez, RHP Spencer Schwellenbach, RHP Ian Anderson
Key relievers: RHP Raisel Iglesias, LHP Aaron Bummer, RHP Pierce Johnson, LHP Dylan Lee, RHP Daysbel Hern¨¢ndez
The Braves have the reigning NL Cy Young winner in Sale and will soon be returning the guy who finished fourth in the 2023 voting in Strider, who is progressing in his Tommy John recovery. L¨®pez got down-ballot Cy support last year after a dynamite return to a rotation role, and now the Braves have another splendid Spencer in Schwellenbach, who has so much red ink on his Baseball Savant page that he might be a sneaky Cy candidate this year.
Anderson is listed above, but Grant Holmes, AJ Smith-Shawver and Bryce Elder are all good options. The only questions in the rotation are how Sale and L¨®pez handle the aftermath of their major leaps in workload and how quickly Strider finds his, um, stride.
As for the bullpen, A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez departed (though, come on, Chavez is totally going to wind up back with the Braves at some point, isn¡¯t he?), and Joe Jim¨¦nez had knee surgery. But the Braves retain a strong back end, with upside from the likes of Hern¨¢ndez and perhaps Holmes when Strider returns.
4) Mariners
Top starters: RHP Luis Castillo, RHP Logan Gilbert, RHP George Kirby, RHP Bryce Miller, RHP Bryan Woo
Key relievers: RHP Andr¨¦s Mu?oz, RHP Gregory Santos, RHP Matt Brash, RHP Trent Thornton, RHP Collin Snider
The Mariners had the best rotation ERA in MLB last season, a year after finishing fourth. They¡¯ve also had a top-10 relief ERA each of the last four years. Assembling a quality pitching staff (in a home ballpark that greatly aids the effort) has proven an organizational strength. (As for scoring runs, um, we¡¯ll get back to you...)
Though there were trade rumors to the contrary, the M¡¯s kept all the pieces of their awesome rotation. Already, though, they have lost a big one in Kirby to a shoulder issue that will have him on the injured list at the start of the season. Sure don¡¯t love that. But still, the rotation looks to be a serious strength.
The bullpen is more iffy. Though it rated well overall in ERA last year, a midseason rut from the relievers was actually a big reason why Seattle missed the playoffs by just a game. But Mu?oz is one of the most overpowering relievers in baseball, and the return of Brash from Tommy John surgery and Santos from an injury-plagued 2024 could provide big boosts to the bullpen.
5) Diamondbacks
Top starters: RHP Corbin Burnes, RHP Zac Gallen, RHP Merrill Kelly, LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, RHP Brandon Pfaadt
Key relievers: RHP Justin Martinez, LHP A.J. Puk, RHP Kevin Ginkel, RHP Ryan Thompson, LHP Joe Mantiply
You know a Hot Stove signing is surprising when even the team making the signing is surprised. So it was with the Diamondbacks adding Burnes after his camp reached out to them and expressed how much he¡¯d love to pitch near his Scottsdale home. Burnes¡¯ reduced K-rate in 2024 with the Orioles was noticeable, but he also threw the ball harder than ever while limiting walks at his lowest rate since his 2021 NL Cy Young season with the Brewers. He¡¯s not just one of the best pitchers in MLB, but he¡¯s been one of the most durable, with 757 innings dating back to 2021.
The result of that unexpected, major investment is that the Snakes have too many starters, which means they probably have just enough. Gallen and Kelly, the co-aces who helped point Arizona to the World Series in 2023, will both be pitching in a contract year. If E-Rod shakes off his 2024 health woes and Pfaadt reaches his potential, the D-backs have a shot at emerging as the best rotation in baseball. A big X-factor is how they deploy Jordan Montgomery, whose miserable 2024 after inking a deal late last spring has his career at a crossroads.
I¡¯m less sold on the Diamondbacks¡¯ bullpen, where they¡¯ve struggled to find the right mix in the past. But it¡¯s worth noting that, with a full season of 2024 trade acquisition Puk, Arizona is projected by FanGraphs to have the 10th-best relief WAR in MLB. Drey Jameson is a big arm coming back from Tommy John, and it will be interesting to see what, if anything, the D-backs get from veteran Kendall Graveman, who was a strong high-leverage reliever for the Mariners, Astros and White Sox from 2021-23 (154 ERA+) before missing all of 2024 because of shoulder surgery.
6) Tigers
Top starters: LHP Tarik Skubal, RHP Jack Flaherty, RHP Reese Olson, RHP Casey Mize, RHP Jackson Jobe
Key relievers: RHP Jason Foley, LHP Tyler Holton, RHP Will Vest, RHP Beau Brieske, LHP Brant Hurter
The Tigers surprisingly reached and then advanced in October with one (1) starter, albeit a pretty darn decent one in AL Cy Young winner Skubal. Their ¡°pitching chaos¡± program was a perhaps-inevitable, extreme example of what can happen in the modern game when you have a fun stash of bullpen arms and a savvy skipper deploying them.
But things don¡¯t appear as though they¡¯ll have to be quite as chaotic in Detroit this year.
For one, Flaherty is back in Motown. He shined there last season, leading to a Trade Deadline deal to the Dodgers that preceded Detroit¡¯s frenzied down-the-stretch run to a Wild Card berth. And after Flaherty¡¯s postseason didn¡¯t go particularly well, he wound up back with the Tigers on another reasonable short-term deal. The $15 million the Tigers offered Alex Cobb, who had been pondering retirement, might not be as reasonable (Cobb is hurt already, just as he was for the vast majority of 2024), but the Tigers have a lot of rotation upside in Olson, Mize and especially Jobe, who is one of the top pitching prospects in MLB. Kenta Maeda and Keider Montero are also in the mix.
Then there¡¯s that bullpen, which returns all the key pieces that contributed to the fifth-best relief ERA in MLB last season despite the most relief innings. The Tigers added veterans Tommy Kahnle and John Brebbia to the mix, and, again, if the rotation does improve as much as it appears it will, the bullpen shouldn¡¯t be as taxed as it was in 2024.
7) Red Sox
Top starters: LHP Garrett Crochet, RHP Walker Buehler, RHP Tanner Houck, RHP Brayan Bello, RHP Lucas Giolito
Key relievers: RHP Liam Hendriks, LHP Aroldis Chapman, RHP Garrett Whitlock, RHP Justin Slaten, RHP Greg Weissert
The Red Sox had a middle-of-the-pack pitching performance last season but, with the trade for Crochet and signing of Buehler, might have done more to upgrade their outlook in this department than any other club. Free of innings restrictions, Crochet has real potential to be the best pitcher in the AL. He was in the 87th percentile or better last season in expected ERA, walk rate and strikeout rate. And in his first full season following Tommy John surgery -- and on a one-year pillow contract while in search of a bigger payday -- I like Buehler¡¯s chances of reminding us of the ace he can be. He learned a lot down the stretch last season about how to pitch without the benefit of a fastball that used to bully batters.
Here¡¯s the catch: The Red Sox aren¡¯t having a healthy spring in the starting department. Bello won¡¯t be ready for the start of the season due to shoulder soreness. Giolito is coming back from elbow surgery and currently battling a hamstring strain. Depth option Kutter Crawford, who was the Sox¡¯s best starter for a stretch at the start of 2024, has dealt with a knee injury.
Still, if health (eventually) permits and Houck can replicate something resembling his All-Star season from 2024, this rotation has a lot of potential.
Both the rotation and bullpen are projected by FanGraphs to be top-five units. The Sox are taking on some age risk in utilizing Chapman and Hendriks in high-leverage roles, though Slaten is a fresher face worth watching after posting one of the best walk rates in MLB last year.
Because of the injury concerns, Boston¡¯s top-10 standing on the lineups list felt more secure than it does here. But I like that this club put its best foot (sock?) forward in the offseason.
8) Royals
Top starters: RHP Seth Lugo, LHP Cole Ragans, RHP Michael Wacha, RHP Michael Lorenzen, LHP Kris Bubic
Key relievers: RHP Carlos Est¨¦vez, RHP Lucas Erceg, RHP Hunter Harvey, RHP John Schreiber, LHP Angel Zerpa
The Royals overhauled their approach to pitching when J.J. Picollo took over as general manager, bringing in analytically inclined manager Matt Quatraro, pitching coach Brian Sweeney and bullpen coach Mitch Stetter. It certainly helped having Bobby Witt Jr. elevate himself into the MVP conversation, but the primary reason why the Royals made history as a 106-loss team in 2023 that reached the postseason in 2024 was their pitching backbone. They got All-Star, borderline Cy Young seasons out of a veteran signee in Lugo and a burgeoning young ace in Ragans. They also got a 126 ERA+ out of free-agent addition Wacha. And when they were struggling to piece it together in the ¡®pen, they made what turned out to be a wily trade for Erceg.
Though Brady Singer was dealt to the Reds for Jonathan India, all the other primary pieces that contributed to the eighth-best team ERA (3.76) in the game are back, and the Royals also fortified their ¡®pen with the signing of Est¨¦vez, who has a 135 ERA+ and 57 saves over the last two seasons. Re-upping with 2024 Trade Deadline acquisition Lorenzen and hopefully getting something out of another Deadline acquisition in Harvey (who got hurt shortly after the swap) gives Kansas City decent depth.
Also, did you see that Joe¡¯s Kansas City Bar-B-Que will be available at Kauffman Stadium this season? Sure, that has absolutely nothing to do with the Royals¡¯ pitching, but I dare you to explain how it hurts.
9) Rangers
Top starters: RHP Nathan Eovaldi, RHP Jacob deGrom, RHP Jon Gray, RHP Tyler Mahle, RHP Kumar Rocker
Key relievers: RHP Chris Martin, LHP Robert Garcia, RHP Jacob Webb, RHP Shawn Armstrong, RHP Marc Church
We¡¯re friends here, right? We can be honest with each other, yes?
OK, I¡¯ll say it: I was somewhat lukewarm on including the Rangers on this list.
Ultimately, it¡¯s the right thing to do. Because deGrom is back. And Tyler Mahle is also coming back from Tommy John. And the Rangers re-signed a great competitor in Eovaldi. And Gray is a solid mid- to back-end rotation option (or maybe even a closer someday). And Rocker and Jack Leiter have a lot of promise. And the rebuilt bullpen, in which prospect Church provides a lot of upside, looks reasonably good.
All that is true. But there¡¯s also a very real possibility this whole thing blows up in the Rangers¡¯ face and, by extension, my own. After all, deGrom hasn¡¯t pitched even 100 innings since 2019, Eovaldi is 35 with his own extensive injury history and Mahle is already dealing with a forearm issue in camp.
But sure, if deGrom wants to jump back into the Cy Young conversation with a comeback season for the ages, I¡¯m here for it!
10) Padres
Top starters: RHP Dylan Cease, RHP Michael King, RHP Yu Darvish, RHP Nick Pivetta, LHP Kyle Hart
Key relievers: RHP Robert Suarez, RHP Jason Adam, RHP Jeremiah Estrada, LHP Adrian Morejon, LHP Yuki Matsui
First, an apology to those I¡¯ve wronged and insulted by leaving them off the list. You can take comfort in the knowledge that I¡¯m probably (read: definitely) wrong¡
The team I have absolutely no idea how to handle is the Yankees. They had a very prominent spot on this list until Gerrit Cole went down. They actually still have an argument to be on the list -- even without Cole and reigning Rookie of the Year Luis Gil -- because their rotation, now fronted by Max Fried, is still projected by FanGraphs to have the 14th-best WAR in the game, and their Devin Williams-anchored bullpen projects to be great. But they¡¯re already flirting with disaster in the rotation, and the season hasn¡¯t even started yet. And let¡¯s not forget Fried has his own iffy injury history.
I also didn¡¯t know what to do with the Pirates, who have possibly the best pitcher in the world in Paul Skenes. He¡¯s playing around with a couple new pitches after splinking batters last year. Skenes, Jared Jones and Mitch Keller make for a fantastic top end of the rotation. But to put the Buccos on the list would be weighted too much toward a single pitcher, and their bullpen was a mess last year.
The Reds have a lot of talented rotation arms, if health permits. The Rays look frisky and are getting Shane McClanahan back (but they¡¯ve also had trouble keeping pitchers healthy and might have to play something like 25 doubleheaders due to the Tampa weather). The projection systems LOVE the Twins, though I would have liked to see them add some rotation reinforcement to justify including them. Similarly, the Guardians, Mets and Orioles project to have great bullpens but their rotations have plenty to prove. The Astros still have Framber Valdez and Josh Hader, which means they still merit consideration. The Brewers had yet another major personnel change with the Williams trade, but they seemingly always find a way to piece together a good staff.
I¡¯m sure I¡¯m missing somebody. I always am.
Anyway, I¡¯m giving my last spot to the Padres. We heard a lot of trade speculation this winter about Cease and/or King, both of whom are pending free agents. But at last check, they¡¯re still here. They both finished in the top seven of the NL Cy Young voting last season and they¡¯ll both by vying for a big payday. Last season was King¡¯s first as a full-time starter, and he struck out 201 batters in 173 2/3 innings. He might have even more in the tank.
You also have to like that the Padres got Pivetta, a mid-rotation workhorse, on what appears to be one of the winter¡¯s more reasonable pitching pacts (four years, $55 million). The X-factors here are Darvish, who was limited by injuries to only 16 starts in 2024, and Hart, who flourished in the Korean Baseball Organization last year. Durability concerns aside, Darvish still flashes a lot of positives in terms of generating chase and limiting walks.
The Padres¡¯ bullpen lost last year¡¯s midseason acquisition Tanner Scott to the rival Dodgers and has endured a couple injury hits with Bryan Hoeing¡¯s shoulder soreness and Sean Reynolds¡¯ right foot stress reaction. But it still projects to be a solid group.
Of course, should the Padres fall out of the race in the first half, the Cease and King trade chatter will perk up again. For now, they¡¯re worthy of inclusion.
And that¡¯s the key phrase for this entire list: ¡°For now¡¡±