Durability in the Starting Rotation Wins Championships…

(Zell's Pinstripe Blog)

The Yankees haven’t accomplished anything in recent years mostly because of their lack of starting pitching durability. They had veterans who broke down, one year wonders, injury prone players, etc. This year’s team has a different story to tell.

The Yankees starting rotation has been healthy besides Chien-Ming Wang. The current team has 4 starters with 29+ games started this season. That is amazing. No other team in Major League Baseball can say that. Not only that, but they would’ve had a 5th starter do it. Since Yankee management decided to put Hughes in the bullpen, the 5th starter spot has been filled by multiple pitchers. Gaudin, Mitre, Aceves all got starts this season. Think about it. Hughes made his first 7 starts, and he has been healthy all year.

The Yankees have had their struggles with Chamberlain this season. We all know that. That doesn’t take away from how durable the Yankees pitchers have been this season. Sabathia, Burnett and Pettitte have all pitched 180 innings or more. Joba has 146.2 innings pitched, and has only been held back by the “Joba Rules”, or he would have done it too. 

The Yankees have durability in their pitching staff which is hard to come by. Burnett has answered the critics by staying healthy all season long. Sabathia has handled the workload with ease. Andy Pettitte does exactly what he usually does…gives them innings.

Check out this interesting breakdown I tracked down from the book “The Yankee Years” by Tom Verducci:

As you can see, the Yankee teams who had 3 starters or more with 25+ starts made the World Series. Well…they made the World Series 5/6 times. Out of those six years, the Yankees won four WS rings. The years in which the team had a lack of durability from their starting pitchers, they failed to go all the way.

I guess that means the Yankees are headed for another World Championship this year. What do you guys think?