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How effective were fifth starters in 2005?
Posted by John Dewan on Dec 16th 2015
February 22, 2006
Last year we found that the fifth starters for playoff teams were simply .500 pitchers. This suggested that you didn't need a strong fifth starter in order to succeed. Let's see if that trend continued in 2005:If you exclude the four best starters on each Major League team in 2005, the average win-loss record of the remaining starters is 14-21 with a 5.37 ERA. Not very good. For playoff teams, the average is 16-16 with a 4.99 ERA. That 16-16 record is identical to 2004's 16-16 for fifth starters on playoff teams. The ERA is close as well with 2004 at 5.25.
Bottom line: To be a contender all you need for your "fifth starters" is .500 pitching.
Here are the numbers for the 2005 playoff teams (starter win-loss records and ERA excluding the top four starters):
| Chicago White Sox | 12-11 | 4.90 | (#10 of the 30 MLB teams) |
| Los Angels Angels | 15-12 | 4.84 | (#9) |
| New York Yankees | 25-27 | 5.70 | (#22) |
| Boston Red Sox | 10-11 | 5.10 | (#12) |
| Houston Astros | 13-16 | 5.89 | (#23) |
| St. Louis Cardinals | 17-10 | 3.49 | (#1) |
| Atlanta Braves | 22-21 | 4.35 | (#2) |
| San Diego Padres | 12-21 | 5.51 | (#19) |
| Average (playoff team) | 16-16 | 4.99 |
(Top four starters on each team determined as the four pitchers with the lowest opponent OPS among starters with 12+ starts)
For those Chicago Cubs fans out there:
Cubs 14-20, 5.24 ERA (#15)
The worst two teams?
Tampa Bay Devil Rays 11-28 6.80 (#29)
Cincinnati Reds 9-19 7.13 (#30)