Baltimore Orioles: Room to Improve in AL East Starting Pitching Rankings
By Nate Wardle
1. Toronto Blue Jays – J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, R.A. Dickey
Preseason prediction- 5th, Stroman, Estrada, Dickey, Happ, Drew Hutchison, Sanchez, Jesse Chavez, Roberto Hernandez
I admit, I was wrong here. I thought there was no way that Marco Estrada and J.A. Happ could repeat their career years from 2015, but they did. Happ went a sterling 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA in 195 innings/32 starts. Estrada went 9-9 but had a 3.48 ERA in 29 starts. But the big star of the show was Aaron Sanchez.
Before the season started, no one was sure if Sanchez would again be the closer, or be in the rotation. Then, during the season John Gibbons considered moving him to the bullpen to cut down on the 23-year-old’s innings. In the end, he started 30 games, 192 innings and went 15-2 with a 3.00 ERA.
The 41-year-old R.A. Dickey was less than spectacular, finishing 10-15 with a 4.46 ERA, and is now going to be in Atlanta in 2017, which will be no loss to Toronto. Marcus Stroman also struggled, going 9-10 with a 4.37 ERA. I’m not sure the Jays can continue their success in 2017 with a below average year from Stroman, but then I was wrong in 2016.
The Blue Jays team allowed 4.11 runs per game, which is .09 runs per game better than the second best team (Cleveland). Their record in decisions from the starter was 66-41, but their bullpen did lose 20 games for their starters, tied for the most in league with Chicago and Seattle.
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The staff went 6.1 innings per start, best in the American League. And their quality start percentage of 62 percent was also tops in the league. All in all, an excellent year for starting pitching north of the border.