Los Angeles Dodgers: Why the starting rotation will be just fine

1. The top two is still one of the best, if not the best, in the league

Outside of playoff performances, which has been Clayton Kershaw’s kryptonite his entire career, the Los Angeles Dodgers are in a great spot with the top of the starting rotation. Kershaw may not be the pitcher he used to be, and I understand the concerns with him and Walker Buehler, but let’s lay out why those concerns are overstated.

First of all, while Clayton Kershaw is not the same player as old he is still a fantastic pitcher. He was nothing but consistent in 2019 and had a long streak of going at least six innings in every game, giving the Dodgers a quality start in nearly every one of those games.

To have that as the second-best pitcher on the team is a luxury. Heck, Kershaw finished 10th in the Major Leagues in ERA last season, Walker Buehler finished 14th. The only other teams that had two players in the top-15 were the Houston Astros and the Washington Nationals.

And if we are going to assume that Kershaw is going to regress more then we have to be fair and assume that Buehler is going to be even better. If we get the playoff version of Buehler, and the number of bad starts go down, we could be looking at a guy that finishes in the Cy Young running.

It starts at the top and the Dodgers have one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball, still. The only other team that could make a case for a better 1-2 punch is the Washington Nationals.