Detroit Tigers vs. Oakland A’s: The starting rotation

Mandatory Credit: Bob Stanton-USA TODAY Sports

Oakland Athletics Starting Rotation

The A’s and Tigers each have arguments as to who has the best starting rotation in all of baseball. The A’s began the year having lost two of their main starters in Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin to Tommy John surgery. They managed to play to having the best record in baseball with a rotation of Sonny Gray, Scott Kazmir, Jesse Chavez and a combination of others including Tommy Milone and Drew Pomeranz. By the trade deadline they had a starting rotation of Gray, Kazmir, Samardzija, Lester and Hammel. However, we are considering that this is the playoffs, so the comparison will be between both teams’ four-man rotations. Few teams use a full five man rotation in the playoffs.

Jon Lester, LHP

Not only does Lester have some pretty incredible postseason experience, he has two World Series rings, he’s also a four time All-Star and a Cy Young Award candidate this season. He has never lost in the postsesaon and own a 2.11 postseason ERA. At just 30 years old (he is just two weeks and three days older than Kazmir) he is the new ace of the A’s staff.

So far this year between Boston and Oakland he is 11-7 with a 2.59 ERA in 22 starts between the two teams. The lefty’s postseason experience makes him an even more valuable asset to Oakland’s young staff.

Sonny Gray, RHP

In just his second season 24-year old Gray should be in the running for the Rookie of the Year Award, he is however ineligible having pitched just over the rookie minimum 60 innings last year with 64 innings pitched. He had a 2.67 ERA in 2013 and faced off with the Tigers’ Justin Verlander not once, but twice in the 2013 ALDS. He received a no-decision in an A’s win in the first game but lost the second game by a score of 3-0 as the Verlander shutout the A’s. Still Gray allowed just three runs on three hits in both appearances combined, pitching a total of 13 innings against one of baseball’s elite pitchers in his first just partial season in the big leagues.

This season Gray has been named the A.L. Pitcher of the Month in both May and July and has posted 12-4 record in 22 starts. He currently has a 2.59 ERA.

Scott Kazmir, LHP

Kazmir is one of the more unique stories in baseball. A two-time All-Star who led the league in strikeouts in 2007 was down and out of baseball by 2011. He did however gain very valuable post season experience with the then Tampa Bay Devil Rays pitching in the World Series in 2008 alongside Tiger’s pitcher David Price.  After missing the 2011 and 2012 seasons, Kazmir made the Cleveland Indians rotation in 2013.

He pitched well enough that A’s GM Beane took a chance on the southpaw signing him to a two-year $22 million contract. In 2014 Kazmir is back. An All-Star for the now third time, Kazmir is another ace on a staff of aces. He has posted a 12-4 record in 22 starts for a 2.54 ERA for the Athletics this season. Kazmir is not only back in baseball but back as ace on one of the most elite staffs that baseball has seen in long time.

Jeff Samardzija, RHP

Samardzija aka “The Shark” was just months ago playing for the Chicago Cubs. One of the best pitchers in baseball, with an ERA of 1.46 through his first ten starts with the Cubs, had a record that looked like this:

"“no wins, four losses, six no-decisions and a team record of 1-9 in games he’s started.”"

ESPNChicago’s Jesse Rogers wrote that on May 26, 2014, the day that Samardzija was finally awarded his first win of the season. A former two-sport athlete, an All-American college football wide receiver for Notre Dame, a hard throwing right-hander who was thought to be a closer is now an All-Star starting pitcher. Impressive is the only word that comes to mind.

Now Samardzija is with Oakland and he already has as many wins as he did from April to July with the Cubs. He is 2-1 with the Athletics, his only loss coming in his second start for Oakland. He faced Seattle Mariners’ ace “King” Felix Hernandez who is known for stifling A’s hitters. Still he went eight innings giving up just 3 run on five hits, a stellar outing for any pitcher. Currently he is sitting on a total (between both leagues) win-loss record of 4-8 with a 2.91 ERA. Besides the number in the win column, those are definitely the numbers of yet another ace.

Then I guess that makes four aces for Oakland, each one with a unique talent and or story. Let’s now see how they compare in 2014 with another rotation of All-Stars and this time Cy Young Award winners, three of them. Bring on the starting rotation of the 2014 Detroit Tigers.