Astros, Nats have abundance of aces up their sleeves

Baseball’s season-long search for starting pitching stops Tuesday. The sport’s growing reliance on relievers will stall for a World Series to be settled by a bevy of aces unlike any assembled on the sport’s ultimate stage. It is a collection of former teammates, midseason acquisitions and men in their mid-30s who defy the passage of time. “We’ve got six of the top 10 pitchers, arguably, in the game of baseball getting ready to go head-to-head,” said Washington Nationals pitching coach Paul Menhart. “Any pitching enthusiast, even your average fan sitting on the couch, has to love the potential of these games about to take place. I love it. I love watching good pitching.” Two teams blessed with absurd rotations will tussle for their place atop the game’s pinnacle. They built these behemoths in different ways. Houston executed three trades. Washington signed two marquee free agents and developed Stephen Strasburg, the top pick in the 2009 draft. “I think you admire the guys that consistently go out there and throw 200-plus innings and make every start,” said Strasburg, who spoke of a dying breed. “That’s something I’ve tried to work on and get to that point. It’s a never-ending process.” Strasburg was one of only 15 pitchers who threw 200 innings this season. Four others will start a game in this World Series. Nationals ace Max Scherzer’s streak of six straight 200-inning seasons was snapped this year, one affected by a few minor injuries. The six starters scheduled to start the first three games have tallied three ERA titles and five Cy Young Awards. When either Gerrit Cole or Justin Verlander wins the American League honor in November, that Cy Young total will be six. Twenty-nine times, these six men have been elected All-Stars. Starting pitchers are not sent to the Midsummer Classic by a fickle fan vote. Pitchers are picked by their peers and opposing coaches around the game. Cole and Verlander each struck out more than 300 batters, topping the major league leader board. Scherzer, Strasburg and Patrick Corbin round out the top 10. According to ESPN Stats and Information, never before has a World Series featured five of the sport’s top 10 strikeout leaders. Zack Greinke is worth more wins above replacement than any active starter, according to Baseball-Reference. Verlander resides right behind Greinke in the career metric but led baseball with a 7.8 bWAR during the regular season. FanGraphs gives the season’s edge to Cole, his co-ace. “Obviously, I like the mentality of having starters go out there and lay their hat and see what they’ve got on a given day. More traditional baseball,” Verlander said. The three Astros aces combine to command $73 million of Jim Crane’s $168 million payroll. Strasburg, Scherzer and Corbin take in $78.5 million. By any statistics or sum of money, these are six of the sport’s best starting pitchers in an era when they continue to fade away. “I personally am a big fan of starting pitching,” said Cole, who will start Game 1 opposite Scherzer. “I grew up wanting to become a starting pitcher, and I’m a starting pitcher now. And there are a lot of really good starting pitchers on the other side of the field, guys that kind of emulate the role in terms of longevity, durability, creativeness, tenacity, grit.” In search of their second World Series in three seasons, the Astros welcome some normalcy. The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees were reliever-obsessed. Rarely did an Astros hitter face the same pitcher more than once in a game. “They’re some of the best pitchers in the league, but having familiarity and being able to face them multiple at-bats is a good thing as a hitter,” outfielder Jake Marisnick said. “You can kind of have a game plan, an approach. It’s a lot harder to do that facing four different guys a night. I think if you talk to these guys, they’re going to be excited at the fact that they may be able to face a pitcher more than twice.” Houston hits starters handily after seeing them once. The Astros slashed .295/.364/.539 in second plate appearances against a starting pitcher. The third time through? They had a .907 OPS, highest of any American League playoff team. “I wouldn’t say ‘excited’ is the right word to face a guy like Max Scherzer or Stephen Strasburg,” said George Springer, the 2017 World Series MVP. “It’s a grind. It’s a fight. I’ve faced them in the past, but that doesn’t mean anything. I’m pretty sure they’re going to have a plan and not going to do the same thing.” Familiarity is nonexistent. The Astros and Nationals share a spring training complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., and face off frequently in Grapefruit League play, but that hardly matters. Pitchers are ahead of hitters during spring. Both parties are perpetually working on something in their game — be it a new pitch, new swing mechanics or a new delivery — rendering much of what happens in meaningless spring games moot. Aside from Michael Brantley, no Astros player has more than 25 career plate appearances against any Nationals starter. Carlos Correa, Yordan Alvarez, Yuli Gurriel and Alex Bregman have never faced Scherzer in a regular-season game. No player has more than six regular-season plate appearances against Strasburg. At one time, such an unfamiliar matchup would be detrimental. Ample video and analysis exists now, however, and Houston hitters are able to at least have an idea before stepping into the box. Where the Astros often separate themselves is with their in-game adjustments. Springer said his team is “extremely good” at dissecting a starting pitcher after one look. Aledmys Diaz said it’s unlike any club he’s played with previously. “With all the videos we have and all the quick access to them, if it’s the next inning for our at-bat, we can go down there immediately and look at what happened,” Reddick said. “For me, I can look at how he pitched (Brantley), how he pitched Yordan. How that’s going to unfold to me. I also have to realize that I’m hitting behind George Springer. He’s not necessarily going to give me grooved fastballs to get on base for a guy like that. It all kind of factors into helping us out.” Enacting the adjustments is another matter entirely. Scherzer has a 2.92 ERA and strikes out 12.6 hitters per nine innings. Strasburg has a 1.03 WHIP. Corbin has 238 strikeouts. Astros manager A.J. Hinch almost laughed at the notion it would be “easier” to face the same pitcher a second or third time through the order. “I’m the last person that’s going to tell you it’s easier to face Scherzer and Strasburg in the first couple games just because they're traditional pitchers,” Hinch quipped. “I think this particular series, you’ve got to beat their starters. If you want to do well against the Nats, you’ve got to beat their starters and then make them make decisions as the game goes on.” Decisions, of course, that Hinch is far too familiar with. The Nationals bullpen is boorish, one with a 5.68 ERA and without many reliable options. Houston’s skipper is fully aware that any of the three aces his team encounters can, and will, throw 115 or 120 pitches. Calls to the bullpen figure to be few and far between. Hinch certainly isn’t anticipating a Nationals starter exiting early. “I'll believe it when I see it,” said Hinch, weathered by the grating series that preceded this. “I think they should take their starter out after the third inning, to be honest.” chandler.rome@chron.com twitter.com/chandler_rome

Astros, Nats have abundance of aces up their sleeves

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