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Like the other sports leagues, Major League baseball is currently suspended right now because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Like the others, there is no definite time frame as to when MLB will start its season.
While waiting, let’s take a look ahead at the 2020 season by ranking the best pitchers in the business and remember to check out our 2020 MLB home run leader betting preview. Read on:
10. Chris Sale
Sale is coming off an embarrassing 2019 campaign. He was the Red Sox opening day starter but he opened the season with a 0-4 record with an ERA of 8.50. He started in 25 games last season and posted a record of 6-11 with an ERA of 4.40 and 218 strikeouts.
However, when we rank Sale, we looked at his numbers since joining the league in 2010. Among MLB pitchers with a minimum of 1500 innings pitched this decade, he ranks 4th in fWAR at 48.5, 2nd in FIP at 2.90, 2nd in ERA at 3.06, 4th in strikeouts with 1895.
9. Blake Snell
Snell has been decent in his carer but he had his best year ever in 2018. That season, he led the majors in wins with 21 and ERA at 1.89. He was also 6th in strikeouts with 221, barely missing out on pitching’s triple-crown and was named as the 2018 AL Cy Young winner.
Last season though was a disappointment and the worst of his MLB career. Snell was 6-8 with an ERA of 4.29 in 23 starts with 147 strikeouts. But remember that he made two trips to the injured list. If Snell is healthy in 2020, he could be in for a big year with the Rays dealing away some of their pitchers during the offseason.
8. Patrick Corbin
Some people thought that the Nationals were overpaying Patrick Corbin when they gave him a $140M deal last offseason. After all, Corbin was nothing more than mediocre before the 2018 season with an overall record of 45-47 with an ERA of 4.12. He went 11-7 with an ERA of 3.15 and 246 strikeouts in 2018 and quickly proved his doubters wrong.
Then he followed that up with a 2019 season where he went 14-7 in 33 starts with an ERA of 3.25, a WHIP of 1.18, and 236 strikeouts. He was the game-winning pitcher in Game 7 of the 2019 World Series and his 13.886 strikeouts per nine innings pitched during the 2019 playoffs was the third-highest ever in the history of MLB.
7. Walker Buehler
Walker Buehler only has a total of 53 MLB starts yet he is already considered one of the Top 10 pitchers in MLB for 2020. He earned his stripes during a gritty World Series outing against the Boston Red Sox in 2018 where the legendary Sandy Koufax gave him a standing ovation.
Last season, Buehler got even better. He started in a total of 30 games and earned a record of 14-4 with an ERA of 3.26 and a WHIP of 1.04. Buehler struck out a total of 215 hitters last season, the most ever in his career. His career record is 23-9 in 53 starts with an ERA of 3.12.
6. Shane Bieber
Shane Bieber established himself as a key pitcher in the Cleveland Indians rotation in only his second big league season. Bieber was very good that the Indians traded their best pitchers in Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber during the offseason in a move that virtually gave Bieber and Mike Clevinger the keys to the organization.
Bieber earned his first All-Star appearance last season and he earned All-Star Game MVP honors. He finished the 2019 season with a record of 15-8 while posting an ERA of 3.25 and a WHIP of 1.05 He ranked 3rd overall with a total of 259 strikeouts.
5. Stephen Strasburg
Stephen Strasburg has always been labeled as an injury-prone strikeout artist. But in 2019, he established himself as one of the best pitchers in the MLB with an impressive postseason where he went 5-0 with an ERA of 1.98, a WHIP of 0.94, and 47 strikeouts. He also became the first #1 pick to win World Series MVP with two wins.
After the Nationals’ World Series win, Strasburg opted out of his contract and signed a $245M deal with Washington. Strasburg posted a record of 18-6 with an ERA of 3.32. He finished second behind Jacob DeGrom in the National League in strikeouts with 251 and was the NL leader in wins.
4. Justin Verlander
Last season, Verlander started showing that he was getting older. He ranked third among starters with 36 home runs allowed and was a non-factor for the Houston Astros in the World Series. Despite getting slowed down by age, he still managed to prove he was elite by winning his second Cy Young award.
Verlander was 21-6 with an ERA of 2.58 in 223 innings pitched last season. He had 300 strikeouts and led the big league in innings pitched, games started, wins, and WHIP. His WHIP of 0.83 was the lowest since Pedro Martinez in 2000. Verlander also led the MLB in WAR for pitchers with 7.8.
3. Max Scherzer
Scherzer’s had an incredible run since moving to Washington in 2015. During this period, he’s posted a record of 73-39 or a winning percentage of 66.9% with an ERA of 2.74 and a total of 1,371 strikeouts. What’s more impressive is that he’s had five straight seasons with a sub-3 ERA and he’s struck out at least 248 hitters in those five years.
The three-time Cy Young winner was 11-7 with an ERA of 2.92 last season. He led all big-league pitchers with a 7.364 strikeouts/walk. He started Games 1 and 2 of the World Series in Houston and got two wins despite struggling in both games.
2. Jacob DeGrom
After slow 4-7 start where he recorded a 3.27 ERA, Jacob DeGrom finished the season strong with a record of 7-1 with a 1.44 ERA. He was unanimously voted as the 2019 NL Cy Young winner, winning the award for the second straight season and becoming the 11th pitcher to win back to back Cy Young awards.
The three-time All-Star was named to the All-MLB First team last season after recording an 11-8 record with an ERA of 2.43, second-best overall. DeGrom also ranked 4th in strikeouts with 255. Despite their lack of offense, the Mets improved their previous year record by 9 wins and were only three games off a wild card spot during the 2019 season.
1. Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Cole is the owner of the biggest contract ever for a baseball pitcher after he signed a $324M deal with the New York Yankees last December. That didn’t come as a surprise though after he turned in two magical seasons with the Houston Astros where he posted a record of 35-10 with 602 strikeouts.
Cole finished second to Justin Verlander in the 2019 Cy Young Voting. He led the American League in ERA with 2.50 and was the Major League leader in strikeouts with 326, strikeout percentage at 39.9%, and strikeouts per nine innings at 13.818. Cole also became the first full-time starting pitcher in MLB history to average more than 1.5 strikeouts per inning in a season.
