Do the New York Mets really have the top three MLB starters?

Today’s debatable point is (resolved):  The New York Mets have the best top three starters in baseball. It was a curiously worded statement the editors embraced there, but nonetheless, a decent proposition, and one carefully worded. I think.

It wasn’t the “best three,” but the “best top three” – what is implied there? Perhaps those who have started “the most” games for their teams? Let’s assume something like that, and exclude, maybe, very promising pitchers who have fewer than 10 games started at this point. Also excluded would be a strong pair of front-two starters and a fabulous relief pitcher, obviously. We’re talking starters – not pitchers.

Clearly, the Mets have a place in the debate as their starting staff is led by the most dominant pitcher since Bob Gibson made Major League Baseball lower the mound before the 1969 season – Jacob “Check Out My WHIP” deGrom, and Mr. deGrom has, despite injuries, started 10 games.

Has Jacob deGrom’s dominance created an illusion of general starter superiority for the New York Mets?

Back up to the new nickname – deGrom has, despite an obscene 0.56 ERA at this point, an even more scandalous WHIP – 0.53 (before play June 16, when he is scheduled to face the Cubs in Citi Field). And despite the fact that deGrom has single-handedly killed the notion of the won-lost count as a meaningful record, he is 6-2 in his 10 starts this season. Simply put, he’s baseball’s best starter – a 100-mph, thinking man’s pitcher, not a thrower.

He is backed up at the moment by Taijuan Walker (11 starts) and crafty Marcus Stroman (13 starts). The Mets signed Walker out of the American League as a free agent for what is turning out to be (for two and a half months anyway) the peak of his career. He was given a hefty raise, which looks now like a good decision.

Walker’s figures are 5-2 with a 2.07 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He has surrendered only two home runs in 61 innings pitched. He was scheduled to start against the Cubs June 15. Stroman? 6-4/2.07/1.07 WHIP.

Together, the Metropolitans three premier starters have given up only 20 home runs. As a group, they are averaging 5.7809 real-number innings per starter, between “5.2” and “6.0” as the numbers are often given currently. This seems a trifle low, considering the otherwise sterling numbers, but hey, it’s the 21st century.

This is a very good trio at this juncture. Who are their challengers, if any?