Best MLB Starting Rotation Ever

Jim Palmer,Dave McNalley, Mike Cuellar and Pat Dobson of the Baltimore Orioles, all four were 20 game winners in the same season.

Philadelphia's might be, if they all perform like they did this year. It would kill those Yankee teams. The Braves teams of the 1990's were better also. Those Baltimore teams were amazing.

2011 SF Giants with Cain, Lincecum, Bumgarner and Sanchez may well be better than Phillies 1 - 4. Zito kind of drags them down at #5 though.

I'm a Phillies fan, but the 1954 Indians rotation was pretty absurd. 3 Hall of Famers. Thats five deep. Although swept in the World Series.

Early Wynn 23-11, 2.73

Mike Garcia 19-8, 2.64

Bob Lemon 23-7, 2.72

Art Houtteman 15-7, 3.35

Bob Feller 13-3, 3.09

Combined 74 complete games. Accounted for 93 of 111 wins.

Best four man rotation, probably the aforementioned '71 O's.

97 Braves:

Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, Neagle

Worst ERA: 3.02

Worst WHIP: 1.16

All made at least 33 starts and had 230+ innings.

68-28 combined, mostly due to Smoltz' 12 losses.

Also, Yankees? Seriously?

In '99 They had one SP with an ERA under 4.00. In '98 they had two.

I'm a Yankee fan, but get real. The '98 Red Sox killed the Yankees through 3 pitchers and '99 were close through 4. And Pedro was better in either year than any Yankee pitcher.

I will admit being bias to the Yankees but the team won a ton of games that year and was named greatest team by ESPN since the network's inception. I found a website which mentioned the 1998 Braves and 1971 Orioles as the best.

10. 1964 Chicago White Sox

Gary Peters (20-8, 2.50), Juan Pizarro (19-9, 2.56), Joe Horlen (13-9, 1.88), John Buzhardt (10-8, 2.98)

Peters, Pizarro and Horlen finished 2-3-5 in ERA, and all got votes for AL MVP. The ChiSox finished only a game behind the Yankees (and a game ahead of the Orioles) in a tight pennant race, despite a weak offense. Peters was the only strikeout pitcher in the bunch (his 205 were fourth in the AL), but this was a control staff that was very stingy with the walks and hits.

9. 1927 New York Yankees

Waite Hoyt (22-7, 2.63), Urban Shocker (18-6, 2.84), Herb Pennock (19-8, 3.00), Dutch Ruether (13-6, 3.38), George Pipgras (10-3, 4.11)

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Hoyt and Shocker finished 2-3 in ERA, with Pennock 8th. The five starters had a combined 3.13 ERA, more than a run under the 1927 AL average. (Add in the 12 starts of closer Wilcy Moore, who went 19-7 with a 2.28 ERA, and that number would almost certainly drop.) Hoyt and Pennock were future (if marginal) Hall of Famers. The Yankees ran away with the AL pennant with 110 wins and then swept the Pirates in four games in the World Series, surrendering only eight runs.

8. Mid-late 1930s Kansas City Monarchs

Satchel Paige, Hilton Smith, Lefty Bryant, Chet "Dooflackem" Brewer

It's hard to find season-by-season stats, but between 1937 and 1943, the Monarchs won six pennants and boasted perhaps the greatest 1-2 pitching combo in pro baseball history with Hall of Famers Satchel Paige and Hilton Smith. Smith compiled marks of 25-2, 21-3, 25-1 and 22-5 between 1939 and 1942, and many of his contemporaries considered Smith to be as good as, or better than, Paige. Chet Brewer, part of the Monarchs' rotation during some of this period, is also considered one of the best pitchers in Negro League history.

7. 1954 Cleveland Indians

Early Wynn (23-11, 2.73), Mike Garcia (19-8, 2.64), Bob Lemon (23-7, 2.72), Art Houtteman (15-7, 3.35), Bob Feller (13-3, 3.09)

When your team piles up 111 wins, it's inevitable that the starters are going to pile up impressive W-L records. But the wins were deserved: Garcia, Lemon, and Wynn finished 1-3-4 in the league ERA standings, and 1-3-4 in adjusted ERA+. Lemon was first and Wynn third in complete games, and Garcia tied for the AL lead with five shutouts. Their combined ERA was 2.86, compared to a league average of 3.72.

This was an old staff, with an average age of 32, but who wouldn't take an older staff with three future Hall of Famers (Wynn, Lemon and Feller)? The starters got hammered when the Giants swept them in the World Series, but with the Indians' hitters mustering only nine runs, even their best efforts might have been doomed.

6. 1954 New York Giants

Johnny Antonelli (21-7, 2.30), Ruben Gomez (17-9, 2.88), Sal Maglie (14-6, 3.26), Don Liddle (9-4, 3.06), Jim Hearn (8-8, 4.15)

When I think of the 1954 Giants, two players and two things come immediately to mind. Willie Mays and Dusty Rhodes are the players. The Catch and The Sweep are the things. It wasn't until I dug into the numbers that I realized how great this pitching staff was: Antonelli, Gomez and Maglie finished 1-4-8 in ERA, and Liddle and Hearn combined to make a solid fourth starter. Add in an extraordinary World Series performance, and you've got one of the best.

Note: The 1954 Milwaukee Braves also had a crack starting three: Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette,and Gene Conley were right up there with the Giants' top three, and their 4-5 combo of Chet Nichols and Jim Wilson was solid. Which makes 1954 an awesome year for starting rotations.

5. 1966 Los Angeles Dodgers

Sandy Koufax (27-9, 1.73), Don Drysdale (13-16, 3.42), Claude Osteen (17-14, 2.85), Don Sutton (12-12, 2.99)

Won-lost records can be deceiving, eh? Take away Koufax, and you've got a .500 rotation. But you've also got a rotation with a 2.68 ERA, almost a full run under the NL average, four starters who combined for 840 strikeouts, and was the stingiest in surrendering hits. A staff (including relievers) that had both the most K's and the fewest walks in the league. Koufax, Drysdale and Sutton would go on to Cooperstown.

Coda: The Dodgers got swept by the Orioles in the 1966 World Series, scoring only two runs total -- both in Game 1.

4. 1993 Atlanta Braves

Maddux and Glavine are gone, but John Smoltz is still in Atlanta -- and he'll be rejoining the starting rotation this year.

Greg Maddux (20-10, 2.36), Tom Glavine (22-6, 3.20), Steve Avery (18-6, 2.94), John Smoltz (15-11, 3.62)

The Braves' entire staff combined for a league-leading 3.14 ERA, .35 lower than the second-best NL team in 1993. The four combined to throw 972 innings, leaving fifth starter Pete Smith with a measly 14 starts and 90 IP (a good thing, considering Smith's ability). Maddux led the league in ERA, Glavine tied for the league lead in wins, Smoltz was second and Maddux third in K's. The four were among the six NL pitchers who started 35 or 36 games. Maddux led in complete games. Best of all -- this was one of the youngest staffs in baseball, and the core had a future so bright they had to wear shades.

3. 1986 New York Mets

Ron Darling (15-6, 2.81), Dwight Gooden (17-6, 2.84), Sid Fernandez (16-6, 3.52), Bob Ojeda (18-5, 2.57), Rick Aguilera (10-7, 3.88)

Some folks argue the 1985 or the 1988 Mets starters were more solid than the 1986 staff, but I'll pick 1986. Each of the top four starters pitched 200+ innings. Gooden and Fernandez struck out 200 batters apiece. Ojeda, Darling and Gooden had the 2nd-, 3rd- and 5th-lowest ERAs in the NL. Fernandez, Gooden and Darling were among the top 7 in NL strikeouts. Ojeda, Darling and Gooden were all among the league leaders in adjusted ERA+, which accounts for, among other things, ballpark effects. And all four received votes for the Cy Young. Aguilera was a slightly below average pitcher in 1986, his second season, but an Aguilera start was no gimme. (He had the goods: Aguilera would go on to be a three-time All-Star as a reliever with the Twins in the early 1990s.)

2. 1971 Baltimore Orioles

Mike Cueller (20-9, 3.08), Pat Dobson (20-8, 2.90), Jim Palmer (20-9, 2.68), Dave McNally (21-5, 2.68)

The only rotation since the 1920 White Sox to have four 20-game winners, and the wins were clearly deserved -- the four combined for a 2.89 ERA, almost a full run less than the 1971 AL average of 3.87. Palmer, McNally and Dobson finished 3-7-8 in ERA, and all four cracked the top 10 in wins (with McNally taking the winning percentage crown). Not a bad accomplishment, considering the consensus opinion, voiced by McNally: "The only thing [Earl] Weaver knows about pitching is that he couldn't hit it."

1. 1998 Atlanta Braves

Greg Maddux (18-9, 2.22), Tom Glavine (20-6, 2.47), Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.55), Kevin Millwood (17-8, 4.08), John Smoltz (17-3, 2.90)

You could easily argue that the 1996 or 1997 rotation was better, but the difference would be marginal. So let's look at 1998. The Braves' starting five combined for an ERA of 2.97 -- a stunning 1.27 lower than the NL average. They were stingy with hits, walks and homers. Maddux and Glavine had two of the top 10 pitching seasons in the history of the Braves franchise. Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz finished 1-3-6 in ERA. Glavine, the NL's only 20-game winner, captured the NL Cy Young Award, and Maddux and Smoltz tied for fourth in the voting. All five starters were among the top 10 in wins.

Also receiving votes:

1988 Mets: David Cone (20-3, 2.22), Dwight Gooden (18-9, 3.19), Ron Darling (17-9, 3.25), Sid Fernandez (12-10, 3.03), Bob Ojeda (10-13, 2.88)

2003 A's: Barry Zito (14-12, 3.30), Tim Hudson (16-7, 2.70), Ted Lilly (12-10, 4.34), Mark Mulder (15-9, 3.13)

2002 Braves: Tom Glavine (18-11, 2.96), Greg Maddux (16-6, 2.62), Kevin Millwood (18-8, 3.24), Damian Moss (12-6, 3.42)

1929 A's: Lefty Grove (20-6, 2.82), George Earnshaw (24-8, 2.82), Rube Walberg (18-11, 3.59), Jack Quinn (11-9, 3.97)

1954 Braves: Warren Spahn (21-12, 3.14), Lew Burdette (15-14, 2.76), Gene Conley (14-9, 2.96), Chet Nichols (9-11, 4.41), Jim Wilson (8-2, 3.52)

1972 A's: Ken Holtzman (19-11, 2.51), Catfish Hunter (21-7, 2.04), Blue Moon Odom (15-6, 2.50), Vida Blue (6-10, 2.80), Dave Hamilton (6-6, 2.93)

Shamelessly stole this off an MLB message board. I found this to be very interesting, considering my baseball knowledge extends only from the 1990s to the present.

Oakland A's 72-74

Catfish Hunter

Vida Blue

Ken Holtzman

Blue Moon Odom + others

3 Championships in a row.

There were lots of great staffs over the years, but how many championships did they win?

This staff had the all time closer, Rollie Fingers.This wasn't the era of pussy 1 inning saves. They were known as "Fireman" back then and a lot of his saves were the 2 or 3 inning variety, coming in with guys on base.

The 2001 Seattle Mariners had a good rotation, they won 116 games, Moyer won 20 games.

Each of those guys were dopers. It was legal then.

We just saw it in the 2010 World Series.

Shut down pitching....

Gimme`a`break.`Sea`Druggies.

Sea Druggies wrote:

Gimme`a`break.`Sea`Druggies.

Hint:

Your space bar is the big button.

We just saw it in the 2010 World Series.

Dope everywhere.

Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.55 WTF. a five man rotaion with this guy as THE BEST OF AL TIME? Come on.

Braves Fan wrote:

Denny Neagle (16-11, 3.55 WTF. a five man rotaion with this guy as THE BEST OF AL TIME? Come on.

I love how Sandy Koufax was lumped in that poster's list for good measure.

I think the 1993 braves were better than the 1998 Braves looking at the stats.

All things considered, I am starting to believe Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels could equal the Braves pitch staff of the 90s. No doubt SI will have the Phillies #1 for preseason rankings.