On best playoff rotations? (On paper)

Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz
Gooden, Darling and Fernandez
Koufax, Drysdale and Osteen

Those are the ones that I would consider better. I am sure there are others, but I can't think of them.

How many titles did the braves win with that rotation. To win once with them together for so long just shows that it takes more than great pitchers to win the whole thing. That said, I'm very excited about the potential.

Spahn, Sain and Prayforrain

I dunno about all time 3 man rotations but It ranks the Astros as the favorite to win the whole shebang!

safety guy said:

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How many titles did the braves win with that rotation. To win once with them together for so long just shows that it takes more than great pitchers to win the whole thing. That said, I'm very excited about the potential.

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No sht, Sherlock.

Johnson, Schilling, and W Bush in 2001

Saw on twitter that right now they are all in the top 5 in WHIP and if it stays that way it would be the first time the top 3 in a rotation had been top 5 in WHIP since 1925.

Catfish Hunter, Vida Blue, and Ken Holtzman delivered 3 titles for the Swingin' A's

Considering the Astros offense is absolutely dominant, where does the team rank all time as far as overall strength "on paper" going into the playoffs? Gotta be up there

And yes, I understand we could easily lose in round 1 ... because baseball

Late 60s early 70s Orioles had Palmer, Cuellar, McNally. And in 71 added Pat Dobson. 2 won cy youngs and the 71 team was the last team to have 4 pitchers on the same team win 20 games. Went to 3 straight series but only won 1.

1966 Dodgers
Sandy Koufax (27-9, 1.73), Claude Osteen (17-14, 2.85), Don Sutton (12-12, 2.99)
and Don Drysdale was 13-16 but with a 3.42 ERA

The Braves regular season performance was crazy.

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1998 Braves Rotation: Team ERA 3.25

The five-man staff of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Denny Neagle and Kevin Millwood recorded 88 wins, with each starter winning at least 16 games. The group tossed a combined 23 complete games and 13 shutouts

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bigcat22 said:

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2011 Phillies

Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt and Blanton

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the 2011 Phillies are a cautionary tale.

won 102 games in the regular season and whipped the Cardinals in game 1 of the NLDS.

but Cliff Lee was shelled in game 2...and then the Phillies stopped hitting.

lost the series in 5 games to the 90-win Cardinals

kind of funny...one of the greatest teams of the 20th century was the 1976 Cincinnati Reds.

won 102 games during the regular season. Swept the NLCS and swept the world series.

no Hall of Famers in the starting rotation....not even borderline Hall of Famers in their rotation. And none of them appeared in more than 1 all-star game throughout their careers

It's a different game now. Starters don't pitch as long so you also need a good bullpen. And of course your best hitters can't shutdown in October.

'03 Cubs rotation was solid Prior, Wood, Zambrano, Matt Clement

I still argue that Prior should have won the Cy Young that year

But Maddux/Smoltz/Glavine is the best.

mm98 said:

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Ag_07 said:

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Mussina, Clemens, Pettite is pretty salty

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Same for Clemens, Pettitte, and Oswalt.

They're prob in the discussion although not the best trio

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Greinke can definitely prove me wrong once he joins the rotation, but I still think the 2005 trio of Clemens/Pettitte/Oswalt might still be better than the 2019 trio

Towards the end of his career on the Phillies Roy O was the #4 behind Halliday, Cliff Lee & Cole Hamels, those 3 still at the top of their game and Roy still had a little left in the tank and was as good of a 4 for as you'll ever find.

Best rotation that might have been IMO is the 1981 Astros. 5 starters with an ERA under 2.91 led by HOFers Don Sutton & Nolan Ryan (1.69 ERA!). The best of all of them JR Richard had his career shortened by medical condition and was probably the best power pitcher in baseball (300+ K back to back & leading the league w 1.90 ERA in 1980 before it happened). That '81 team lost a very tight NLDS to the Dodgers and IMO would have won it all if Richard had stayed healthy.

I have read that the Dome lowered starters' ERA by a run and change, but Richard, Ryan and Sutton would have definitely been on the list regardless.

Gotta throw in Sanchez now after the no no.

And as great as Roy O was with the Phillies, now that Wiley is the #4 starter, his numbers are better than Roy Os in 2011.

https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/ranking-the-top-10-mlb-rotations-of-all-time-zack-greinke-gives-astros-one-of-the-best-in-baseball-history/amp/

To answer the OP, #3 all time.

W said:

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bigcat22 said:

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2011 Phillies

Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Oswalt and Blanton

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the 2011 Phillies are a cautionary tale.

won 102 games in the regular season and whipped the Cardinals in game 1 of the NLDS.

but Cliff Lee was shelled in game 2...and then the Phillies stopped hitting.

lost the series in 5 games to the 90-win Cardinals

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This seems prophetic.

I'll take our 2017 rotation over this years.

Ummm, we relied on Peacock (who was clutch) and had no closer. Unless you're just talking starters.

I do miss LMJ and CFM but

JV + GC + ZG + 0 > JV + DK + CFM + LMJ