Carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning, Marcus Stroman was absolutely what you wanted to see yesterday. The Rockies away from Coors Field ain’t a great lineup, but then again, dominating a lineup like that is what you’re *supposed* to do if you’re a good starting pitcher, right?
And that’s definitely what Stroman did, using all his pitches, keeping hitters off-balance, and getting all kinds of groundouts.
On the year, Stroman’s ERA is down to 3.76 (3.85 FIP) over 119.2 IP, which is about 8% better than league average by ERA-.
But since returning from the post-Covid shoulder soreness back in early July, he’s been outstanding: 2.74 ERA over 72.1 IP, with maybe ONE bad outing. He has basically just been the good version of Stroman that you would’ve been hoping for going into the season, and that you would hope for next year. His groundball rate during that stretch has been a whopping 57.1%.
The ERA puts Marcus Stroman around the top 30 starters in baseball since the start of July, right around the results of guys like Carlos Rodon, Shohei Ohtani, Chris Bassitt, and Spencer Strider.
The Cubs don’t need Stroman to be an “ace” going forward, but if he’s a front two starter? That’s what you need to see next year, with an impact starter added in front of him. You could see a very good starting rotation take shape quickly, with those two and Justin Steele in the front three, and then loads of quality depth bringing in the back.