Top five fantasy baseball starting pitchers

Gerrit Cole (Google Images)

With the Major League Baseball season just two days away, it is now time to analyze the top five starting pitchers in the fantasy world. This list is quite spectacular.

5) Stephen Strasburg–Washington Nationals–The 32-year-old from San Diego had a sensational 2019 Major League Baseball season. He led the National League with 209 innings pitched, and 18 wins, and was named the World Series Most Valuable Player, as the Nationals won their first World Series in franchise history. Strasburg’s record in 33 games was 18 wins and six losses. He had 251 strikeouts, to go along with an earned run average of 3.32 and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.04. In 33 starts, he gave up 161 hits, 77 earned runs, and 56 walks.

4) Shane Bieber–Cleveland Indians–In only his second Major League Baseball season, Bieber was a workhorse. He had two complete game shutouts in 2019, as he blanked the Baltimore Orioles 10-0 on May 19, and then the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 on July 24. In 214 1/3 innings pitched, Bieber had a record of 15 wins and eight losses, to go along with 259 strikeouts, an earned run average of 3.28 and a WHIP of 1.05.  The native of Orange, California gave up 186 hits, 78 earned runs, and 40 walks in 34 games.

3) Jacob deGrom–New York Mets–The native of DeLand, Florida will be the Mets undisputed ace in 2020, as Noah Syndergaard is out for the season with Tommy John surgery. In 2019, deGrom only had a record of 11 wins and eight losses, but led the National League with 255 strikeouts, and won his second straight National League Cy Young Award. DeGrom’s earned run average was 2.43, and his WHIP was a remarkable 0.97 In 32 starts, deGrom pitched 204 innings, and gave up 154 hits, 55 earned runs, and 44 walks.

2) Justin Verlander–Houston Astros–The 2019 American League Cy Young Award winner led Major League Baseball with 21 wins, 223 innings pitched and a WHIP of 0.80. Verlander, a native of Manakin Sabot, Virginia, pitched 34 games in 2019 and had an earned run average of 2.58, with 300 strikeouts. His finest game came on September 1, when he pitched a no-hitter in a 2-0 Astros win over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the third no-hitter of Verlander’s career.

1)Gerrit Cole–New York Yankees–In 2019, Gerrit Cole might have just had the best season by any pitcher in Major League Baseball history not to win the Cy Young Award. He posted a record of 20 wins, and five losses, led the American League with a 2.50 earned run average, and the Major Leagues with 326 strikeouts. However somehow, Cole lost out to his Astros teammate, Justin Verlander. In the offseason, Cole signed a nine-year deal with the Yankees worth a whopping $324 million.