Nationals, Astros making starting pitching popular again

Stephen Strasburg

There are only two teams in baseball that have never made the World Series -- one in each league. One is the Seattle Mariners in the American League.

The other, the National League's Washington Nationals -- who were once the Montreal Expos -- are on the verge of advancing to the Fall Classic for the first time in the franchise's 51-year history.

Washington beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-1, on Monday night to take a 3-0 lead in the National League Championship Series.

How are the Nationals doing it? With starting pitching. Stephen Strasburg on Monday struck out 12 and walked nobody over seven innings of one-run ball.

In fact, the Cardinals have scored a grand total of two runs in the first three games of the series -- that's a good way to dig an 0-3 hole.

In Game 1, Anibal Sanchez, who is Washington's No. 4 starter, had a no-hitter through 7.2 innings. He ended up combining with Sean Doolittle on a one-hit shutout in the Nationals' 2-0 victory.

Washington ace Max Scherzer had a no-hitter through six innings in Game 2. He ended up pitching seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts in a 3-1 Nationals' victory.

The run the Cardinals scored Monday against Strasburg was unearned, which means Washington starters have not allowed an earned run in 21.2 innings going into Tuesday's Game 4.

That is domination. The Nationals are bucking the bullpen trend we've seen over the past few years. Washington's bullpen is pretty thin -- there isn't much there beyond Doolittle and Daniel Hudson.

But the Nationals have Scherzer, Strasburg, Patrick Corbin and Sanchez. That's a deep, strong rotation that just may carry them into the World Series.

Meanwhile, in the American League, Gerrit Cole struck out seven over seven shutout innings Tuesday as the Houston Astros defeated the New York Yankees, 4-1, in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.

The Astros took a 2-1 in the series, and they regained home-field advantage in the best-of-seven.

Houston is seeking to win its second World Series in three years, and the strength of their team is, well, starting pitching. Cole and Justin Verlander, you can flip a coin in the AL Cy Young race this year. Zach Greinke is their No. 3 pitcher, and while he hasn't been great in these playoffs, he's an ace on most teams around the league.

If the Nationals and Astros both make the World Series, we'll be looking at a matchup of the two deepest starting rotations in the game. So much for bullpen usage ruling the day.