MLB Power Rankings: Which pitching rotation is the best in baseball?

8. Chicago Cubs

Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks and Jose Quintana make up the top three of the Chicago Cubs’ rotation. So, yeah, they were bound to be high on these rankings.

Also, Yu Darvish is on the disabled list. Oh, so is Drew Smyly! Okay, I know Darvish wasn’t very good before he hit the disabled list, but still, that’s a pretty good pitcher to have waiting to come back.

Anyways, Cubs’ starters have pitched to a 3.72 ERA, which is the eighth-best in all of baseball. Opponents are hitting a mediocre .235 against them, too.

Jon Lester has once again been brilliant, with a sparkling 2.71 ERA through 12 starts. He’s allowed just 54 hits in 63 innings of work.

Aside from Lester, Kyle Hendricks has pitched to a 3.19 ERA and 1.064 WHIP. Amazingly, he’s walked only 14 batters through 67.2 innings. Whew.

Quintana, on the other hand, hasn’t been as lucky. He’s thrown to a 4.78 ERA, 4.6 BB/9 and 1.481 WHIP. He’s regressed from the good start he had since initially being traded from the Chicago White Sox.

Interestingly, this rotation, despite the names, don’t strike out a ton of batters. Collectively, the bunch has punched out 264 batters, which is the 18th lowest total in the majors. Middle of the pack, but not exactly great. Rather, they’ve relied on missing bats, and often.

Darvish should return to the rotation at some point in the middle of June. If he comes close to anything near his best, the Cubs will be a scary squad to face in the postseason.