The MLB Season is upon us, lets take a look at which 2024 MLB starting rotations will be king. Without a solid rotation, even the best lineup cannot carry a team to a championship. This season has seen some of the best rotations of the past decade-plus built on paper. Time will tell how they play out, but here’s our rankings at the beginning of the season.
Lets take a look at all 30 MLB Starting Rotations for the 2024 season from WORST to FIRST.
30. Colorado Rockies
MLB Starting Rotations: Colorado Rockies. The Rockies are in for another tough season. It’s already hard to pitch at Coors Field, but they have not been able to develop the talent that can handle the altitude. The closest thing they have is Kyle Freeland who will again be their ace. Freeland had a great sophomore campaign in 2018 but hasn’t been able to replicate it in the years since, settling into a 4.39 career ERA and coming off a season with an ERA over 5. If that’s the ace, then it’s an issue. Not much to be found after Freeland either. A ~6-team ERA is on the table again.
29. Chicago White Sox
After trading Dylan Cease, only playing at sea level is keeping the ChiSox from the bottom here. Garret Crochet is their Opening Day starter. He has never started an MLB game. Admittedly he has been solid as a reliever in his short career, but when the other options are so bad that his first career start is Opening Day? Eric Fedde was bounced from the league to Korea and is returning. Mike Soroka has seen a promising career go up in smoke and Chris Flexen is on his third stop after bombing out with the Mets. Bleak is a fine word here.
28. Oakland Athletics
The Athletics had one of the worst rotations in baseball in 2023, one of the main causes of their horrendous season. They added Alex Wood to be their ace, which is not much of an addition considering he’s had a 4.59 ERA since 2019. When a washed up lefty is your guy, you’re in big trouble. We also can’t help but think the uncertainty of the franchise will seep into the performance of the players. At this point, it’s not a reach to call the A’s shameful.
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27. Los Angeles Angels
A lack of starting pitching has been the Halos biggest issue since before Ohtani came and went. Jered Weaver passed for a stud ace over there. Now they have to pray Patrick Sandoval’s 2022 sub-3 ERA season wasn’t a complete fluke and that he can hold down the number one slot. Even if he does, there’s not much to hope for beyond him. Reid Detmers showed promise at one point, we guess? Just a tough scene in the post-Ohtani era for LAA.
26. Washington Nationals
The Nats have been a disaster since the 2019 World Series win. Patrick Corbin has turned into the most hittable pitcher in the game, leading the Majors in hits allowed 2 of the last 4 years. He’s also led the NL in losses three years running, yikes. Josiah Gray at least took a step forward in 2023 by getting his ERA under 4, but unfortunately, he still hasn’t been able to get his BB/9 below that number. Trevor Williams had some sneaky success for the Mets as a spot starter in 2021 and 2022 but got lit up for the most HR in the NL in 2023, so it seems he’s a non-factor too. Strasburg isn’t coming through that door either. Dave Martinez keeps the Nats playing hard, but that only goes so far.
25. Cincinnati Reds
The Reds play in a bandbox, which does not help their rotation, however, they also have struggled to develop pitching like many others on this list. Hunter Greene, the number two overall pick in the 2017 draft has done nothing but get rocked since coming up to the bigs. He has stuff for days, but just can’t seem to put it together. Frankie Montas as your ace is a massive gamble. His injury issues are long-standing and he’s only pitched to barely a sub-4 career ERA too. If Montas and Greene can get it together the rotation at least has a decent top two, but even then Graham Ashcraft and Nick Martinez aren’t exactly striking fear into the hearts of opposing hitters.
24. Boston Red Sox
When Lucas Giolito getting injured is a huge blow to your pitching staff, you’re talking about a bad pitching staff. Brayan Bello and Kutter Crawford became about league-average pitchers in 2023, but unless they leap forward, it’s not good to think these are probably your two best guys. We know what Nick Pivetta is, and it’s bad. Tanner Houck stunk after converting from a solid reliever, and now it looks like the Sox are going to pull the same trick with Garret Whitlock. Pain again is likely at Fenway.
23. Texas Rangers
This pick gets a bit of an asterisk, in that Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer will pitch at some point this season for the Rangers. However, those two are not anywhere near a return, and the rest of the staff is not as phenomenal. Without Montgomery returning, Nathan Eovaldi is the ace. As good of a playoff pitcher as Eovaldi is, his regular season stats are not quite as strong. Still, he is coming off a great 2022 and has put up a 121 ERA+ (a stat where 100 is the league average) since 2020. Not a terrible number-one option. However, getting to Jon Gray and Andrew Heany as your numbers two and three is where it starts to fall apart. Without the future Hall of Famers to lead the way, it’s a bit of a crapshoot for the Rangers.
22. Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates just extended Mitch Keller to the tune of $77MM which is fairly odd considering he’s never been anything better than a bone average pitcher in a full season. Beyond Keller, the Pirates are really just relying on Paul Skenes, the most recent number-one overall pick, to storm his way to the Majors and do some damage. Martin Perez should not be a number two starter in any rotation.
21. Milwaukee Brewers
With Burnes gone and Woodruff out until 2025, this rotation is completely different than the division winner from 2023. They don’t even have their former depth with Adrian Houser moving on to the Mets. Freddy Peralta was a nice number three, but as an Ace? We’re not so sure. Jakob Junis hasn’t started more than 17 games since 2019 and has an ERA over 4.5 in that span. This is someone the Brewers will rely on? We see a big fall-off for the Brew Crew.
Also Read: 5 MLB Players That Will Have Great Seasons This Year… And 5 That Will Completely Fall Off
20. New York Yankees
The Yanks fall this far due to Gerrit Cole’s injury. As New York baseball fans know from Jacob deGrom, these elbow injuries are rarely just the couple of weeks the team plays them down to be, unfortunately. Stroman is a fine number two or three, but he can’t carry a staff, and everyone else is a complete question mark, except maybe Nestor the mol- Nasty Nestor Cortes. Rodon needs to really show up for the Yankees to have a chance this year. Of course, we will eat out words if Cole can throw 20+ starts and dominate again.
19. Kansas City Royals
Cole Ragans went ballistic in his 12 starts for KC last season and looks like he has a real chance to be an MLB ace, finally living up to his first-round pick potential. Backed up by Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha, the Royals actually have a halfway decent rotation this season, kind of out of thin air. However, Ragans will have to be that guy for this to actually be true. 12 flier starts in a zero-pressure environment are not exactly rock-solid evidence. We shall see.
18. Detroit Tigers
Tarik Skubal was nasty upon his return from injury last season and looks to be a bonafide ace this upcoming season. Kenta Maeda will always give legitimate MLB innings, and Reese Olson had a nice rookie year with a respectable 111 ERA+. Los Tigres just need Jack Flaherty to get anywhere near his Cardinals numbers and they’ll be in good shape.
17. New York Mets
MLB Starting Rotations: New York Mets. The Mets are hurting with Japanese stud Kodai Senga starting the season hurt, however, he should be back by May. With Senga leading the way, the rotation looks pretty solid. Sure, Luis Severino now needs to return to his Yankees prowess to start the season, but Jose Quintana has been a number one and acquitted himself fine before. If they can hold down the fort for Senga, this should be a good rotation.
16. Miami Marlins
The Marlins would be an easy top 5-10 pick if healthy, but with Sandy Alcantara on the shelf, after Tommy John, and Garret, Perez and Cabrera all starting the year injured, they’re bounced to the middle. Jesus Luzardo will have to do some heavy lifting here until the cavalry arrives.
15. St. Louis Cardinals
Sonny Gray was the big addition for the Cards this off-season and he will not pitch opening day. If Gray just misses a few starts, this rotation looks a lot better. But the Red Birds will need Lance Lynn to turn back the clock to his original Cardinals quality for the rotation to really look good this season. Mikolas should try to avoid giving up 226 hits again too.
14. Minnesota Twins
The Twinkies will sorely miss Sonny Gray and to a lesser extent Kenta Maeda, but still have Pablo Lopez as a strong Ace. If Bailey Ober can deliver on his burgeoning skill from the past two seasons, that will give them a good top of the rotation. Still, depth may be an issue. Chris Paddack will be getting significant starts this season, which was a good thing in 2019, but hasn’t really been since. Bailey Ober is good at striking guys out but needs to put it back together the way he did in 2022 before we start calling him a good pitcher.
13. Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays rotation is devastated by injury. McClanahan is out for the year after Tommy John Surgery. Baz will start the year on the IL. Aaron Civale and Zach Eflin are the guys that will be relied on to start the season, which is bad. However, we know that the Rays can turn almost anyone into a 2.96 ERA pitcher, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see Civale at the All-Star game this season.
12. Cleveland Guardians
The Guardians had some of the best rookie pitchers last year in Tanner Bibee and Logan Allen. If they take the next step into great MLB pitchers then the Guardians are cooking. Shane Beiber had a very down year to his standards, so you know he’ll be looking to get back to his Cy Young heights as well. Carlos Carrasco is back in the fold too, we’ll see how Cookie can do at the back end of the Cleveland rotation after a disappointing tenure with the Mets.
11. Houston Astros
Had Jose Urquidy not gotten a forearm injury (that presented with elbow pain), the Astros would be a bit higher up this list. Relying on Verlander at his advanced age is also a bit of a worry too. Still, Framber Valdez and Cristian Javier are solid pitchers to keep the ship steady until all the scheduled pieces can get into place.
10. Baltimore Orioles
The Corbin Burnes trade signaled the O’s are all in. With a great young squad, the time to win is now. Burnes leads a team with other great young arms like Kyle Bradish and Grayson Rodriguez. Bradish looked like he was going to be out for most of the year, but the organization said instead he’ll return “early” in the first half. If he and Burnes can be the one-two punch the fanbase has dreamed about since the trade for most of the season, the O’s will have a top rotation this year.
9. San Diego Padres
The Padres buffed up their rotation with the late trade for Dylan Cease. Now with Darvish, Musgrove and Cease to run the show, there’s a chance the Padres could have the best rotation in a loaded NL West. That chance also comes from Michael King, who was tremendous for the Yankees, in some starts last year, but did get lit up in the silly Korean Opening Series against the Dodgers.
8. Toronto Blue Jays
MLB Starting Rotations: Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays had one of the best rotations in the sport last year, and will again this year. The Gausman-Berrios-Bassit trio is fully intact and if Manoah can overcome his current injury and get anywhere near his 2022 level, we’re looking at an absolute nightmare front four in the AL East.
7. Chicago Cubs
The Cubs being here is fully reliant on Shota Imanaga being the real deal. So far he looks absolutely nasty. If he is pushing for Rookie of the Year honors, he’ll join Brandon Steele and a resurgent Kyle Hendricks in a formidable three-headed monster.
6. San Francisco Giants
The Giants got a huge lift in rotation quality when they signed Blake Snell. With Logan Webb ready to go for Opening Day, the Gigantes have two of the best arms in the NL at the top. They are hoping fireballer Jordan Hicks can become a solid starter, which through Spring Training, has so far gone well. The Giants also feel very good about rookie Kyle Harrison. On top of all this, they have Robbie Ray waiting in the wings to return from elbow surgery. If he comes back strong, the Giants then have a top three worthy of any staff in baseball.
5. Arizona Diamondbacks
The addition of Jordan Montgomery pushes the D-Backs into the top 5. Zac Gallen has been a stud at the top of the rotation for years. Now Montgomery takes a ton of pressure off of the young guns who helped the Snakes reach the World Series last year like Pfaadt. The Eduardo Rodriguez injury hurts, but they should still be able to get 20+ starts from the former Tiger.
4. Seattle Mariners
Luis Castillo has become the man in Seattle. He was great for the Reds, but taking a step up to become the Ace of a team that relies on him to push them to the playoffs has brought out his best. George Kirby has followed right in his footsteps, solidifying himself as one of the best control pitchers in the sport. The M’s have Logan Gilbert to round out a strong top three and hope Bryan Woo and Bryce Miller will find their footing after decent rookie campaigns. Getting rid of Robbie Ray does put a bit of a damper on what could have been a tip-top rotation, however.
3. Los Angeles Dodgers
Yes, Yamamoto got absolutely lit up in his debut. Yes, Kershaw is already injured. But we’re trusting the Dodger pitching lab to get the most out of Bobby Miller after a stellar rookie campaign and to push Tyler Glasnow to the peak of his potential. We also are not counting out the Japanese phenom based on one game in a bizarre gimmick “Opening Day” that forced the team to travel halfway across the whole world, only to play more Spring Training games a few days later.
2. Philadelphia Phillies
After extending Wheeler and Nola, the Phils have locked up one of the best one-two punches in baseball. Sure, Nola struggled last year, but we have to think quality will come out from a guy like that. Wheeler has graduated into one of the best in the sport. Ranger Suarez and Taijuan Walker (though facing injury) in the middle make this rotation look absolutely stellar.
1. Atlanta Braves
The Braves have brought their rotation back to the legendary 90s level of quality. The addition of Chris Sale puts them completely over the top. Strider has become one of the best strikeout pitchers in the game and appears on the precipice of turning into a truly dominant force. Fried is excellent any time he can get on the mound, and Charlie Morton has done nothing but continue his stellar career in the second half. This rotation is a joke, the only thing that can stop it is injury.
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