Greinke is Long Gone
LHP Alex Wood went from excellent number two in 2016 to Co-Ace with his 2.72 ERA last year. But the 27-year old will probably return to what he was for the previous four seasons: A very good pitcher with an ERA above 3.50.
But at least his outlook is still very promising.
RHP Kenta Maeda got markedly worse in his second season stateside, regressing from his 2016 ERA of 3.48 to a 4.22 last season. Another similar regression would be a significant factor for the Dodgers.
Meanwhile, on-again, off-again starter Rich Hill put up a very good 3.32. But he only threw 136 innings last season. And he is 38. Hill right now is like the Mickey Mouse club on a Wednesday: Anything can happen.
The same could be somewhat said of 30-year old leftie Hyun-Jin Ryu, but at least his ERA will likely wind up in the threes.
That seems like a lot less than the Cubs and Astros. In fact, Los Angeles has the weakest pitching of any of these teams. And while their home run hitting offense has some of the NL’s best young ballers, it suffers from too many players with low averages.