It would be hard to argue against any of the Top Five as tops in the game, perhaps going down as far as Top Ten, After that it gets a little dicey and spicy. I imagine Matt Cain would have fallen onto this list had he pitched enough recently and maybe Lincecum had he not fallen off a cliff recently.
But "Oh well? Right? What are you going to do? ~;::::::;( )"> ¯\_( )_/¯
Hey, I hear the Reds might be having a garage sale. See how much they're asking for Mike Leake. Hey, and maybe they throw in that Cuban Missile guy Chapman, right? It's not like they're using him much anyway, right? What have you got to lose? ~;::::::;( )"> ¯\_( )_/¯
from billjamesonline.com
http://www.billjamesonline.com/polls_ratings/starting_pitcher_rankings/
Is Max Scherzer the World’s Best Pitcher?
June 29, 2015
In the 2015 Bill James Handbook, Bill James introduced his new formula to determine the World’s Best Pitcher at any given time. The system is based on Game Scores and weighs positive and negative recent performances more heavily than older performances.
As of the publication of the Handbook, Clayton Kershaw was the No. 1 pitcher in baseball by a substantial margin, and even in the Stat of the Week update from November that reflected Madison Bumgarner’s dominant playoff performance, Kershaw was still well clear of the field.
So far in 2015, Kershaw has been a little less dominant than his usual self. That combined with some excellent pitching performances from some of his peers, one in particular, has radically closed the gap:
| World's #1 Starting Pitcher as of 6/29/2015 | |||
| Rank | Started Season | Pitcher | Current Score |
| 1 | 1 | Clayton Kershaw | 585.9 |
| 2 | 4 | Max Scherzer | 584.6 |
| 3 | 6 | Chris Sale | 557.7 |
| 4 | 2 | Madison Bumgarner | 553.8 |
| 5 | 10 | Zack Greinke | 553.1 |
Specifically, Max Scherzer has flown up the rankings this year thanks to his 1.79 ERA and his league-leading 9.3 strikeouts per walk. Following his no-hitter, Scherzer has pulled close to even with Kershaw.
Kershaw is still No. 1, but that title is at jeopardy for the first time since June 1, 2014, when Scherzer briefly held the title. Kershaw has been so dominant for so long, that the last starter other than Scherzer to have the title over him is Justin Verlander back in early 2013!
A change could happen as soon as Thursday when Scherzer and the Nationals take on the Braves.
The rankings are updated daily over at Bill James Online."
'via Blog this'
Here's the Top 50 (all aces), Mike Leake makes the list (hint,hint):
World's #1 Starting Pitcher Rankings: CURRENT RANKINGS
| |||
| Rank | Started Season | Name | Current Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Clayton Kershaw | 585.9 |
| 2 | 4 | Max Scherzer | 584.6 |
| 3 | 6 | Chris Sale | 557.7 |
| 4 | 2 | Madison Bumgarner | 553.8 |
| 5 | 10 | Zack Greinke | 553.1 |
| 6 | 3 | Felix Hernandez | 547.4 |
| 7 | 5 | David Price | 544.1 |
| 8 | 9 | Johnny Cueto | 531.1 |
| 9 | 8 | Cole Hamels | 529.5 |
| 10 | 13 | Corey Kluber | 520.3 |
| 11 | 7 | Jon Lester | 504.8 |
| 12 | 45 | Chris Archer | 501.0 |
| 13 | 55 | Dallas Keuchel | 500.9 |
| 14 | 29 | Francisco Liriano | 499.8 |
| 15 | 42 | Sonny Gray | 499.2 |
| 16 | 12 | Jordan Zimmermann | 498.4 |
| 17 | 11 | Adam Wainwright | 493.3 |
| 18 | 20 | Lance Lynn | 489.2 |
| 19 | 17 | James Shields | 488.9 |
| 20 | 38 | Yovani Gallardo | 482.7 |
| 21 | 18 | Jeff Samardzija | 481.7 |
| 22 | 58 | Shelby Miller | 480.4 |
| 23 | 62 | Jason Hammel | 477.0 |
| 24 | 16 | R.A. Dickey | 476.9 |
| 25 | 63 | Jake Arrieta | 476.3 |
| 26 | 26 | Phil Hughes | 474.9 |
| 27 | 53 | A.J. Burnett | 474.9 |
| 28 | 94 | Jacob Degrom | 473.4 |
| 29 | 27 | Jose Quintana | 470.7 |
| 30 | 15 | Jered Weaver | 470.6 |
| 31 | 47 | Dan Haren | 468.6 |
| 32 | 52 | Wei-Yin Chen | 468.0 |
| 33 | 34 | John Lackey | 467.5 |
| 34 | 14 | Stephen Strasburg | 466.9 |
| 35 | 43 | Anibal Sanchez | 465.8 |
| 36 | 22 | Gio Gonzalez | 465.3 |
| 37 | 48 | Tyson Ross | 465.0 |
| 38 | 82 | Gerrit Cole | 464.7 |
| 39 | 49 | Edinson Volquez | 464.2 |
| 40 | 40 | Mark Buehrle | 463.6 |
| 41 | 70 | Ubaldo Jimenez | 459.4 |
| 42 | 41 | Miguel Gonzalez | 459.2 |
| 43 | 57 | C.J. Wilson | 458.0 |
| 44 | 19 | Doug Fister | 455.8 |
| 45 | 71 | Clay Buchholz | 453.7 |
| 46 | 46 | Mike Leake | 453.1 |
| 47 | 24 | Chris Tillman | 451.3 |
| 48 | 88 | Scott Kazmir | 450.7 |
| 49 | 31 | Julio Teheran | 447.8 |
| 50 | 50 | Wade Miley | 447.5 |
