Cleveland Indians pitching was historically good in 2017

Incredible pitching from the both the starting rotation and the bullpen propelled the Cleveland Indians to a historic season in 2017.

2017 was a historic season through and through for the Cleveland Indians. Not only did they have the second most wins in franchise history at 102, but they also had three pitchers with 17 or more of those wins.

Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco gave fans reason to believe that this rotation is the best in baseball. Kluber made a strong case for his second Cy Young Award. He had the lowest ERA in baseball at 2.25. He was also in a three-way tie for most wins on the year at 18, and finished third in strikeouts at 265 despite missing almost a whole month.

Kluber’s other-worldly numbers have most of the baseball world in agreement that he is worthy of his second Cy Young Award. Only Chris Sale poses a threat, but with his numbers dropping recently Kluber looks to be a lock.

Having an ace like Kluber can overshadow the performance of the rest of the staff. That is not the case for Carlos Carrasco. He has put up “ace-worthy” numbers himself as he notched 18 wins on the year and proved he could carry the team while Corey was down. This year, Carlos earned 226 strikeouts and pitched 200 innings.

Trevor Bauer saw his year start off as quite a rollercoaster ride. For the first few months of the season it seemed like he’d never quite recovered from the injury suffered in the previous postseason. An injury that I will not bring up the cause of.

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Regardless, Bauer found his rhythm as the season went on and his drone-related injury days seem to be long behind him, as he notched 17 wins on the season. The only thing Indians fans can fault him for is being the pitcher that lost the 22-game win streak. (I swear I’m not mad Trevor.)

The rest of the rotation shined bright all season as well. Mike Clevinger became a household name amongst Tribe fans after he displayed brilliance in the absence of Danny Salazar.

Clevinger notched a 1.13 ERA in his final six appearances on the season. He will be a dynamic weapon for the Indians in the bullpen this postseason.

Speaking of the bullpen, let’s talk about the best bullpen in baseball. More specifically, let’s talk about Tyler Olson. Olson was called up after Miller went down with a knee injury in August. The 28-year-old lefty made 30 appearances on the year and pitched 20 total innings. In those 20 innings not only did Olson not allow a run, but he had a WHIP of 0.95.

As much stress as people say Cody Allen induced, he held 30 out of 34 saves this season and continues to be a dominant closer for the Indians. Did I mention Andrew Miller is really freaking good? The dominant lefty has 95 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. If he stays healthy, he will be just as much as a weapon this postseason as he was in 2016.

Next: A reflection on the 102 wins

This Cleveland pitching staff found it’s groove early in the year and never seemed to lose it. If the trend continues into the playoffs it could mean some long nights for their opponents.