The 2026 Major League Baseball playoffs begin Tuesday with four Game 1s in the Wild Card Series. It's a 12-team field, and each league's top two division winners get a bye to the divisional round. That means eight teams in the first round before the final four join the fun.
As we head to the most fun month of baseball on the calendar, which teams are set to have the best pitching? Here are the 12 playoff pitching staffs, ranked: Hunter Brown is a frontline guy and Peter Lambert has settled in as a decent starter while Josh Hader is back among the best closers in baseball. The bullpen is actually pretty solid, but this bunch of a whole leaves a lot to be desired.
As a team, the Astros ranked 24th in ERA this season at 4.45. Put it this way: After Brown, the playoff rotation is Lambert and Hayden Wesneski. The rotation is scary in that it could end up costing the White Sox a series.
Sean Burke could do very well and it's possible Anthony Kay has a gem or two left in him. Davis Martin has been good at times, too. Then there's Erick Fedde.
Even if you look through rose-colored glasses here, it's a bad playoff rotation. The bullpen, though, is very good. Thanks to the emergence of Grant Taylor and Hagen Smith as reliable late arms, Bryan Hudson, Jordan Hicks and Sean Newcomb are supporting cast in a strong relief corps.
It's always possible the Cubs find a good formula with the rotation and bullpen, but overall, this has been a subpar pitching staff for most of the season, and the bullpen has had major meltdown issues with nearly anyone they've tried in the late innings. What could the good formula be? Maybe something with David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Matthew Boyd and Kevin Gausman in the rotation while starters-by-trade beef up the bullpen in front of Daniel Palencia, Ryan Zeferjahn and Ryan Rolison.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
