What makes a great baseball rotation?
MLB lowered the mound in 1969 (an advantage for the hitter), so comparing today to before that is like comparing apples and oranges. The 1884 Providence Grays, for example, featured a two-man rotation of Old Hoss Radbourn and Charlie Sweeney, who went a combined 77-20, with 95 complete games and a 1.61 ERA (the lowest of all-time).
Teams like the 1954 Indians (Early Wynn, Mike Garcia, Bob Lemon, Art Houtteman, Bob Feller), 1966 Dodgers (Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Claude Osteen, Don Sutton), 1968 Cardinals (Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Nelson Briles, Ray Washburn, Larry Jaster) and 1927 Yankees (Waite Hoyt, Urban Shocker, Herb Pennock, Dutch Ruether, George Pipgras), are best observed within the context of their era.
What is greatness? First, the rotation must be talented, filled with Hall-of-Famers, Cy Young award winners and All-Stars, and overall impose statistical dominance.
Honorable mentions for dominant regular season rotations:
- The 2014 Tigers, with five Cy Young winners (Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello, David Price, and Robbie Ray).
- The 2003 Moneyball A's (Barry Zito, Tim Hudson, Ted Lilly, Mark Mulder, and Rich Harden) who could never get past the Yankees in the playoffs.
- The 2015 Cardinals (John Lackey, Michael Wacha, Carlos Martinez, Lance Lynn, Jamie Garcia), who combined for a 2.94 ERA, 3rd lowest since 2000, but got bounced by the Cubs in the NLDS.
- The 2021 Dodgers (Walker Buehler, Julio Urias, Clayton Kershaw, Trevor Bauer, Max Scherzer, Tony Gonsolin), who won 106 games but lost to the Braves in the NLCS.
- The 2011 Phillies (Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt, Vince Worley), who won 102 games with a 3.02 ERA.
- The 2014 Nationals (Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmerman, Tanner Roark, Doug Fister, Gio Gonzalez), who posted 3.03 ERA and were the NL East champions.
But talent isn't enough, and this is where the Dodgers rotation needs to prove itself — they need to win.
A rotation of multiple-time World Series Champions is vastly superior to a rotation of Cy Young winners who never won in October. Playoff baseball is different. Every pitch has life-or-death implications, and instead of feasting on inferior competition, you're facing the best of the best. True greatness blossoms under the bright lights and on the biggest stage.
Honorable mentions for dominant postseason rotations:
- The 2004 Red Sox (Pedro Martinez, Curt Schilling, Tim Wakefield, Derek Lowe, Bronson Arroyo) who broke the Curse of the Bambino but had a 4.18 ERA in the regular season.
- The 1998 Yankees (Andy Pettitte, David Wells, David Cone, Hideki Irabu, Orlando Hernandez), and while there's logic to the idea that the best team ever might have the best rotation, this group only has one Cy Young award, zero Hall of Famers and never led the league in ERA.
- The 2010 Giants (Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner), who won 92 games and had the lowest ERA in the major leagues, Bumgarner is one of the GOAT playoff pitchers in MLB history, and the core (Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner) won three world series titles in five years.