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Los Angeles Dodgers: Predicting season stats for the starting rotation

By Jason Reed

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 27: (L-R) Chris Taylor #3, Rich Hill #44, Clayton Kershaw #22, Ross Stripling, Walker Buehler #21 and their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates look on from the dugout in the ninth inning of Game Four of the 2018 World Series against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. The Red Sox defeated the Dodgers 9-6. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 27: (L-R) Chris Taylor #3, Rich Hill #44, Clayton Kershaw #22, Ross Stripling, Walker Buehler #21 and their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates look on from the dugout in the ninth inning of Game Four of the 2018 World Series against the Boston Red Sox at Dodger Stadium on October 27, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. The Red Sox defeated the Dodgers 9-6. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers
(Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers /

The Los Angeles Dodgers have one of the best starting rotations in baseball that is sure to put up some pretty great numbers in 2019.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have been so consistently great over the last six seasons because the team always fields a talented and deep starting rotation. This year is no different.

The Dodgers could legitimately run a seven-man rotation with Ross Stripling and Julio Urias if they really wanted to. However, Stripling, despite being elite as a starter in the first half of 2018, did start to burn out late in the year and can instead be an elite setup man for the Dodgers.

Urias, on the other hand, is on an innings cap that might be most effectively used by putting him in the bullpen.

Chances are that both Stripling and Urias will make some starts in 2019 due to the nature of the beast. However, here is the starting five we think the Dodgers will roll with as well as their stats for the 2019 season.

5. Kenta Maeda

  • 11-7, 155 IP, 3.60 ERA, 150 strikeouts

The reason for choosing Kenta Maeda as the fifth arm in the rotation instead of Ross Stripling is because of Maeda’s gas tank as a starter. Maeda proved in his rookie year that he can handle the workload of being a starter in the MLB, meanwhile, Stripling really burned out at the end of last season.

Stripling might be better as a starter and Maeda might be more electric out of the bullpen, at times. However, from a logistics standpoint of managing a 162-game season, this makes the most sense.

We anticipate Maeda to make 25 starts on the year, compiling an 11-7 record and 3.60 ERA. That would be slightly worse than his rookie season, which was his best year to date and better than last season.

We don’t expect anything special out of Maeda in 2019. We just hope he can be a consistent innings eater at the back of the rotation, consistently throwing six or so innings per start, allowing 2-3 runs in those innings in most of his starts.

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