After Jordan Montgomery held the Tigers to two runs over 6.1 innings of work on Sunday, the Yankees’ dominant starting rotation lowered its collective ERA to a league-best 2.55.
The day before, Luis Severino held Detroit scoreless and would have flirted with a no-hitter had a line drive not glanced off Isiah-Kiner Falefa’s glove. The game before that, Gerrit Cole had a perfect game going with two outs in the seventh inning. The night before that, Jameson Taillon had a perfect game in the eighth inning.
Meanwhile, Nestor Cortes Jr. leads the league with a 1.50 ERA.
Based on those facts and figures, the Yankees arguably have the best rotation in baseball, ranking at the top in WHIP (0.96), walks per nine innings (1.82), K/BB ratio (5.00), and opponent batting average (2.05). There is still a ways to go in the 2022 campaign, but two months into the season, the Yankees are putting up numbers that rival, or even exceed, some of the best pitching staffs of all time.
One of the first rotations that come to mind when talking about the best ever is the 1971 Orioles and their four 20-game winners led by Jim Palmer and Dave McNally. Of course, pitcher wins aren’t exactly the best barometer to measure pitcher success (just look at Jacob deGrom), but that O’s staff also led the league with a collective 2.99 ERA, yet the Yankees have that beat by about a half a run.
Another one of the best rotations of all time belongs to the 1988 Mets led by David Cone, Bob Ojeda, and Dwight Gooden, who helped New York finish with a league-best 2.91 ERA, while also leading the league with a 1.15 WHIP and a 2.72 K/BB ratio. The 2022 Yankees are comfortably ahead of that group in all three categories, incredibly holding opponents to less than a baserunner per inning.
What about the dominant 2011 Phillies, led by Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt? That group also led the league in ERA with a mark of 3.02, and had three pitchers finish in the top five in the Cy Young voting. They led the league in strikeouts, walks, quality starts, and wins. Right now, the Yankees are comfortably beating that group in ERA, and are beating that group’s 4.22 K/BB ratio.
Finally, how about the 1998 Braves, who boasted their legendary trio of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz all finishing with an ERA under 3.00? Their 3.25 ERA was the best in the league, as was their 1.22 WHIP. Again, the Yankees are well ahead of both of those marks. So there is a long way to go, and regressions or injuries can always happen, but with a decent sample size, the Yanks are putting themselves in historic company.
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
Listen live to WFAN:
Audacy App | Online Stream | Smart Speaker (just say ‘Play W-F-A-N’)