Historic Starting Rotations for Astros and Nationals to Duel in World Series

If the numbers heading into it are any indication, this World Series will be a true arms race.

With Gerrit Cole taking on Max Scherzer in Game 1 tonight, Justin Verlander facing Stephen Strasburg in Game 2 and Patrick Corbin battling future Zack Greinke in Game 3, the pitching matchups should make the 2019 World Series a true Fall Classic.

Thanks to those six players, this will be the first World Series since 1945 to feature six starters who finished the year among the top 20 in ERA, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

As FiveThirtyEight points out, this World Series will feature five starting pitchers (Cole, Scherzer, Verlander, Strasburg and Corbin) who produced five or more wins above replacement during the regular season for the first time in modern history.

While other individual teams have reached the World Series with multiple pitchers with WARs over five, this is the first time both teams have had this many pitchers combined with such high WARs and presents the best slate of potential October pitching matchups since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling of the Diamondbacks faced Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina of the Yankees in the 2001 Series.

But it isn’t just new-school stats that have people excited this could be a throwback series. In addition to getting high analytic marks, all the aces that are getting set to toe the mound also have passed the old-school eye test.

“What this is, is the making of a classic,’’ ex-World Series champion manager Jim Leyland told USA TODAY. “Everybody is looking forward to this. It’s great for baseball. Look at the matchups. It’s baseball at its best, and the way the game was meant to be played. You need horses to win championships. What I personally believe is that your best bullpen is a seven-inning starter. You’re then only using your bullpen because you want to, not because you have to. These two teams are proving how valuable good starting pitching means to teams. This has got a chance to be a hell of a matchup.’’

The Astros, who are seeking their second World Series in three years, opened as 2-1 favorites over the wild-card Nationals, who are making their Series debut.

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