Top five pitchers in Major League Baseball: An overview – Part 1
Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants seem to have stolen the show for pitching this season. Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels and Brian Wilson have become renowned for their consistency at the mound. Coincidentally, all three pitchers are from the
National League. However, the pitchers from the American League have been more impressive generally when it comes to statistics.
CC Sabathia has ruffled almost every batting outfit in Major League Baseball and leads the list of number of wins with 15 thus far in the season. The lanky Jered Weaver from Los Angeles Angels has stunned everyone with a league-best ERA of 1.79 along with
second-most wins (14) in the League. Detroit Tigers have surfaced a late renaissance and their starter Justin Verlander has been a core component of it. Verlander has the third-best ERA in AL and joins Weaver for the second-most wins in the League.
Following is a brief overview on the top five pitchers in MLB.
The best pitcher this season, by far, has been CC Sabathia of the New York Yankees. Sabathia has started 23 games thus far for the Yankees this season and has pitched 168.2 innings in total. Three of the 23 games have been complete games, one of which was
a shut-out.
Sabathia has allowed just 143 hits in entirety and has conceded 55 runs. His performance has been flawless which is supported by his ERA of just 2.56. Sabathia has bagged 156 strike-outs already and with at least 14 more starts for the pitcher this season,
he is expected to finish with almost 250 strike-outs. His win-loss record of 15-5 is the best in Majors this season. He has been fit this season and the Yankees would want his fitness to remain because they do not have any other starting pitcher of Sabathia’s
stature in their ranks.
Sabathia’s career has been illustrious as well. 12 of Sabathia’s 345 career starts have been complete-game shut-outs. He has a win-loss record of 172-93 and an ERA of 3.50 which is remarkable. Sabathia currently has 1943 strike-outs in his bag and is well
in line to complete 2000 career strike-outs this season.
Detroit Tigers’ starting pitcher Justin Verlander makes it to the second spot in the list of the best pitchers in MLB. Verlander’s season has been imposing and he has dictated terms at the mound to even the best batters in business. He has started 23 games
for the Tigers this season out of which two have been complete-game shut-outs.
Verlander’s success can be attributed to his ability to halt runs in addition to striking-out batters at will. Verlander has amassed 169 strike-outs at an ERA of just 2.34 which is miles better than his career ERA of 3.60. His win-loss record of 14-5 is
the second-best in MLB and with at least 12 more starts expected, at this rate, Verlander is all set to bag more than 20 wins this season. His form and fitness are, however, vital for the Tigers and himself. The Tigers are currently leaders in AL Central and
will want Verlander to remain with them to ensure stability at the top.
Verlander’s career has been magnificent and a win-loss record of 97-57 in 188 games is a worthy evidence of it. It is just a matter of few games before Verlander celebrates his 100 career-wins.
Continued in Part 2
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