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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 Eugene Garcia – Pool/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers
(Photo by Eugene Garcia – Pool/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Dodgers /

2. Walker Buehler

  • 18-4, 178 IP, 2.43 ERA, 200 strikeouts

We have every reason to believe that Walker Buehler is going to have a fantastic sophomore season for the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he puts up numbers better than most teams’ ace. That is exactly what is going to happen, as Buehler is going to post a sub 2.50 ERA and is going to hit the lucrative 200 strikeouts plateau for the first time in his career.

We do think that the Dodgers are going to be overly cautious with Buehler and that the team will not hesitate to pull him after five or six innings if the team has a decent enough lead. The bullpen is good enough to do that and Buehler’s arm is important to maintain all season long.

We predict that Buehler will make 28 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019 and the 178 innings is about six and one-thirds innings per start. That might not seem like a lot but if you consider last season, in which he averaged under six innings per start, it is an improvement.

For those at home counted that is 48 earned runs across 178 innings and 28 starts. That is about 1.7 runs per start, hence why he is going to have a great 18-4 record.

The 200 strikeouts are right on pace if Buehler has just a slight increase in K/9, which he should. Unless something drastic happens, these are all obtainable numbers for Buehler and are not huge jumps from his rookie stats, especially if you look at how dominant he was in the second half last season.

Buehler will be an all-star and will get some Cy Young votes in the National League. Whether or not he is a finalist is going to be hard to predict, because the NL is so stacked in pitching, but we are fairly confident that he finishes in the top-five.

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