Blue Jays rank high among MLB 2025 rotations built for 162G Marathon
Rankings will be different for October playoff series
Judging from many years of personal experience, it seems MLB teams spend inordinate amounts of time, over the seven weeks of spring training, analyzing the best way to line up a five-man rotation, to maximize talent available.
However, history also shows, that as successful as that spring task may turn out, it never really means “mission accomplished.” By the end of the season, we know the 30 major-league teams are likely to average 10-plus starters, each, for 162 games. The regular season is a marathon. Health and depth are true keys to the best rotations.
It’s become a expensive exercise for MLB teams. Multi-year contracts for veteran starters are akin to legal sports gambling. If you are going to participate in the process, locking up the financial big-boys to guaranteed contracts via free agency, you better be comfortable in unforeseen injuries and losing gambles.
Consider that of the 46 current MLB starting pitchers earning $15-million plus in 2025, five of those, that combine to earn $113M, will begin the season on the Injured List. That list includes Gerrit Cole (NYY), Sean Manaea (NYM), Frankie Montas (NYM), Joe Musgrove (S.D.) and Alex Cobb (Det).
In addition to the injured big-ticket items, joining the majors’ gimpy group of hurlers who are likely to open the season on the IL, is an impressive, but alarming, array of once and future all-stars -- Spencer Strider (Atl), George Kirby (M’s), Brayan Bello (Bos), Kutter Crawford (Bos), Brandon Woodruff (Mil), Luis Gil (NYY), Grayson Rodriguez (O’s), Eury Perez (Mia) and Shane Bieber (Cle).
Assuredly, the task of proclaiming division winners midway through the pre-season, based strictly on season-opening rotations is as imprecise an art as it gets. But here we go, for your sceptical viewing pleasure.
AL Divisions by rotation – Blue Jays, Twins, Mariners; WC-Rangers, Red Sox, Rays.
NL Divisions by rotation – Phillies, Pirates, Dodgers; WC-Braves, D’backs, Padres.
When healthy, far and away, there is no denying the Mariners have the most impressive five-man rotation in MLB, combining youth and talent, while as a depth group, the Jays core of three, led by Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt, take the ball every fifth day and produce consistent quality.
In fact, studying the last two years 2023-24, the Top 3 starters for the M’s and Jays are the only trios that have all made at least 30 starts in both seasons. That M’s list does not even include Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo and, for the Jays, doesn’t show Max Scherzer and Bowden Francis, joining the rotation this year.
The most negative argument, working against the idea of placing these two sturdy starting groups at the top of their respective divisions is that the teams also reflect one another when it comes to their decided lack of run support for their superior rotations. But, of course, that’s why they play the games.
MLB SUMMARY OF CURRENT SPRING 5-MAN ROTATIONS
(Individual ranking numbers included as per Yahoo! Fantasy)
AL EAST
1-Blue Jays: 51-Kevin Gausman … 62-Jose Berrios … 67 Bowden Francis … 80 Max Scherzer … 89-Chris Bassitt … (Yariel Rodriguez … Jake Bloss).
2-Red Sox: 7-Garret Crochet … 54 Tanner Houck … 83-Walker Buehler … Lucas Giolito … Quinn Priester … (*85-Brayan Bello … *77-Kutter Crawford).
3-Rays: 37-Shane McLanahan … 56-Ryan Pepiot … 60-Taj Bradley … 68-Shane Baz … 70-Drew Rasmussen … (134-Zach Littell)
4-Yankees: 31-Max Fried … 41-Carlos Rodon … 57-Clarke Schmidt … 132-Marcus Stroman … Will Warren … (*13-Gerrit Cole … *75 Luis Gil).
5-Orioles: 53-Zach Eflin … 104-Charlie Morton … 107-Cade Povich … 124-Tomoyuki Sugano … 126-Dean Kremer … (*25-Grayson Rodriguez).
AL CENTRAL
1-Twins: 17-Pablo Lopez … 22-Bailey Ober … 29-Joe Ryan … Simeon Woods-Richardson … Chris Paddack … (*78-David Festa).
2-Tigers: 1-Tarik Skubal … 40-Jack Flaherty … 71-Reese Olson … Casey Mize … Kenta Maeda … (*Alex Cobb).
3-Royals: 8-Cole Ragans … 45-Seth Lugo … 82-Michael Wacha … Michael Lorenzen … Kris Bubic … (*Kyle Wright).
4-Guardians: 24-Tanner Bibee … 86-Gavin Williams … 123-Luis Ortiz … Ben Lively … Triston McKenzie … (*103-Shane Bieber).
5-White Sox: Martin Perez … Jonathan Cannon … Davis Martin … Sean Burke … Bryse Wilson … (*Drew Thorpe).
AL WEST
1-Mariners: 4-Logan Gilbert … 27 Luis Castillo … 32 Bryce Miller … 41 Bryan Woo … Emerson Hancock … (*11-George Kirby).
2-Rangers: 10-Jacob deGrom … 55-Nathan Eovaldi … 99-Cody Bradford … 122-Tyler Mahle … 125-Jon Gray … (81-Kumar Rocker … Jack Leiter).
3-Astros: 15-Framber Valdez … 28-Hunter Brown … 66-Spencer Arrighetti … 69-Ronel Blanco … Jayden Wesneski … (*112-Luis Garcia).
4-Athletics: 75-Jeffrey Springs … 79-Luis Severino … 127-JP Sears … Mitch Spence … Osvaldo Bido … (Brady Basso).
5-Angels: 49-Yusei Kikuchi … 101-Jose Soriano … 106-Reid Detmers … Kyle Hendricks … Tyler Anderson … (Chase Silseth).
NL EAST
1-Phillies: 3-Zack Wheeler … 21 Aaron Nola … 50-Cristopher Sanchez … 61-Jesus Luzardo … 76-Ranger Suarez … (120-Andrew Painter).
2-Braves: 6-Chris Sale … 26-Spencer Schwellenbach … 44-Reynaldo Lopez … 110-Grant Holmes … Ian Anderson … (*39-Spencer Strider).
3-Mets: 43-Kodai Senga … 136-David Peterson … Clay Holmes … Tylor Megill … Griffin Canning … (*63-Sean Manaea … *129-Frankie Montas).
4-Marlins: 48-Sandy Alcantara … 93-Ryan Weathers … 133-Edward Cabrera … Cal Quantrill … Max Meyer … (*121-Eury Perez).
5-Nationals: 59-MacKenzie Gore … Jake Irvin … Mitchell Parker … Mike Soroka … Trevor Williams … (*84-DJ Herz … Cade Cavalli).
NL CENTRAL
1-Pirates: 2-Paul Skenes … 38-Jared Jones … 90-Mitch Keller … Bailey Falter … 128-Andrew Heaney … (102-Bubba Chandler … *Johan Oviedo).
2-Reds: 34-Hunter Greene … 58-Nick Lidolo … 95-Nick Martinez … 105-Brady Singer … 111-Andrew Abbott … (*Brandon Williamson).
3-Cubs: 19-Shota Imanaga … 35-Justin Steele … 91-Jameson Taillon … 94-Matthew Boyd … Colin Rea … (114-Ben Brown).
4-Brewers: 23-Freddy Peralta … 87-Nestor Cortes … 96-Aaron Civale … 108-Tobias Myers … 131-Jose Quintana … (*72-Brandon Woodruff).
5-Cardinals: 33-Sonny Gray … 100-Eric Fedde … Miles Mikolas … Andre Pallante … Steven Matz … (*118-Quinn Mathews … *137-Michael McGreevey).
NL WEST
1-Dodgers: 9-Blake Snell … 14-Yoshinobu Yamamoto … 20-Tyler Glasnow … 36-Roki Sasaki … Tony Gonsolin … (*65-Shohei Ohtani … 113-Dustin May … 117-Bobby Miller).
2-Diamondbacks: 5-Corbin Burnes … 30-Zac Gallen … 46-Brandon Pfaadt … 74-Merrill Kelly … 98-Eduardo Rodriguez … (92-A.J. Puk, 109-Jordan Montgomery, 130-Ryne Nelson).
3-Padres: 12-Dylan Cease … 16-Michael King … 52-Nick Pivetta … 64-Yu Darvish … Kyle Hart … (*115-Joe Musgrove).
4-Giants: 18-Logan Webb … 47-Robbie Ray … 88-Kyle Harrison … 97-Justin Verlander … Jordan Hicks … (*116-Hayden Birdsong).
5-Rockies: German Marquez … Ryan Feltner … Kyle Freeland … Antonio Senzaleta … Bradley Blalock … (*Austin Gomber)
It just seems madness to give starters huge long term contracts.