CheeseIsGood's Million Dollar Musings: Wednesday, September 22nd
I’ve lost track, but I think maybe it’s Wednesday? If that indeed happens to be the case, Happy Wednesday! We’ve got an interesting 10-game slate tonight with a couple of top pitchers and another Dodgers game in Coors Field against a good Rockies pitcher. The majority of the slate is filled with pretty good, but not elite pitchers that will jumble up the offenses. Let’s dig in and see what happens.
Wednesday Night Pitching
I end up with a fairly condensed pitcher pool quite quickly tonight. We’ll start with the bird’s eye view and then narrow this down.
FOUR ACES
Zack Wheeler vs Orioles
Chris Sale vs Mets
Luis Garcia at Angels
Walker Buehler at Rockies
FOUR MORE TO LIKE
Joe Ryan at Cubs
Ian Anderson at Diamondbacks
Corey Kluber vs Rangers
Kyle Hendricks vs Twins
SOMETHING CHEAP
Cole Irvin vs Mariners
One Ace And A Couple Almost Aces And A Guy In Coors
Walker Buehler is great and sure he can pitch well in Coors Field. But without a discount, I just can’t make any case for him compared to Zack Wheeler. Buehler is just an MME leftover tonight. The bigger question in the top tier is if Chris Sale really belongs next to Zack Wheeler. It’s a strange question given how much more talented Sale has been over the long run, but right now, we’ve got one guy throwing 80-85 pitches vs another guy who has been over 90 pitches for 15 straight starts. Of course, pitch count is not everything, what about talent? Yeah, what about it. Wheeler has a higher strikeout rate than Sale by a fairly significant margin, and control that is every bit as good. I’m not anti-Sale tonight or any night, but at this point in time, Zack Wheeler is simply the better pitcher. On top of that, Wheeler has the matchup edge at home against Baltimore.