As a Dodgers fan, I would have liked nothing more than to see Cardinals starter Michael Wacha get hit around last night, but that was not the case. Instead, the best pitcher in baseball had his worst performance of the season, in the biggest start of his young career. Yes, Wacha was matched up against Clayton Kershaw and put up a Kershaw-like performance, shutting out the Dodgers on two hits, a walk and five strikeouts over seven innings in the Cardinals 9-0 win.
Wacha has been dominant this postseason, as he shut out the Dodgers in game two last Saturday, where he gave up five hits, a walk and struck out eight over 6.2 innings of work in the Cardinals 1-0 win.
As I was reading through my timeline on Twitter I saw one person ask a fellow fantasy writer if Wacha is a top 5 starter in 2014. His response was No, which I agree with. But, he and another writer both stated he could be a top 25 starter next season. Here is where I disagree.
Fantasy owners should not be influenced by the playoff performance of any one player. Ever. Looking at the playoffs, it is just a one month stretch in the baseball season, that is it. Any player can rise to the occasion and perform well over a month. Anyone. The playoffs are too small of a sample size to influence rankings for next season, in my opinion. The fact that a player performs well on the biggest stage can easily influence one to move a player up in their rankings, but don't be that person.
I took a quick glance at what starting pitchers I would rank ahead of Wacha before I went to bed last night, and here is that list, in no particular order:
Rank |
Name |
Team |
1 |
Clayton Kershaw |
Dodgers |
2 |
Max Scherzer |
Tigers |
3 |
Anibal Sanchez |
Tigers |
4 |
Adam Wainwright |
Cardinals |
5 |
Matt Harvey |
Mets |
6 |
Felix Hernandez |
Mariners |
7 |
Justin Verlander |
Tigers |
8 |
Cliff Lee |
Phillies |
9 |
Chris Sale |
White Sox |
10 |
Yu Darvish |
Rangers |
11 |
James Shields |
Royals |
12 |
Mat Latos |
Reds |
13 |
David Price |
Rays |
14 |
Jon Lester |
Red Sox |
15 |
Hisashi Iwakuma |
Mariners |
16 |
Jose Fernandez |
Marlins |
17 |
Cole Hamels |
Phillies |
18 |
A.J. Burnett |
Pirates |
19 |
Hiroki Kuroda |
Yankees |
20 |
Homer Bailey |
Reds |
21 |
Madison Bumgarner |
Giants |
22 |
Jordan Zimmermann |
Nationals |
23 |
Mike Minor |
Braves |
24 |
Stephen Strasburg |
Nationals |
25 |
Francisco Liriano |
Pirates |
26 |
Hyun-Jin Ryu |
Dodgers |
27 |
Zack Greinke |
Dodgers |
28 |
Kris Medlen |
Braves |
29 |
Gerrit Cole |
Pirates |
30 |
Matt Moore |
Rays |
31 |
Matt Cain |
Giants |
32 |
Johnny Cueto |
Reds |
33 |
Alex Cobb |
Rays |
33 |
Zack Wheeler |
Mets |
This is a list of starting pitchers that I would rank over Wacha right now, and is a list that I put together in 10-15 minutes, so there may be pitchers that I did not consider that are missing from this list, but I would definitely consider taking any one of these starters before Wacha in 2014.
Granted, Wacha did pitch well this season, but he made just nine starts, going 4-1 with a 2.78 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and a 65-19 strikeout to walk rate in 64.2 innings. Once I go through my 2014 starting pitcher rankings in more detail, maybe I will change my tune, but right now, I would draft all of these pitchers ahead of Wacha, which is still saying something.
Let's hear your thoughts on where Wacha should be ranked in 2014 in the comment section below.
More from Fake Teams:
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- Fake Teams Podcast Episode 36: The epitome of projection
- EPL Week 8 Fantasy Preview
- Jacoby Ellsbury: Not a Top 20 Outfielder in 2014
- A Look Back at our 2013 Consensus Starting Pitcher Rankings - Part 3
- Alfonso Soriano: Turning back the clock
- A Look Back at our 2013 Consensus Starting Pitcher Rankings - Part 2