San Francisco Giants: Are They on a Collision Course with Oakland?

Starting pitching

May 22, 2014; Denver, CO, USA; San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Tim Hudson (17) prepares to deliver a pitch during the second inning against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Giants: Last season, the Giants ranked 24th in MLB with a collective 4.37 ERA from their starters. This season, the Giants rank seventh in MLB with a collective 3.50 ERA from their starters.

The Giants’ starting pitching has greatly improved because of Tim Hudson’s dominance (1.97 ERA), Madison Bumgarner’s consistency (2.68 ERA), and Ryan Vogelsong’s improvement from last season (3.84 ERA). Tim Lincecum is still searching for some consistency (4.97 ERA) and Matt Cain has dealt with injuries (3.52 ERA), but the other Giants’ starters have picked them up.

The Giants have also received a big boost from Yusmeiro Petit (4.40 ERA), their long reliever this season. He’s filled in admirably during Cain’s time on the DL and in other spot starts. He’s proven to be a valuable asset for the Giants, who didn’t have a long reliever and could’ve used one last season.

A’s: The starting pitching staff for the A’s has been absolutely stellar so far this year. When it was announced that both Jarrod Parker and A.J. Griffin had to have Tommy John surgery before the start of this season, it was unclear how the A’s pitching staff would recover. However, the new additions to the starting rotation, Jesse Chavez (3.04 ERA) and Scott Kazmir (2.20 ERA), have stepped up.

Sonny Gray (2.83 ERA), Drew Pomeranz (2.20 ERA), and Tommy Milone (3.68 ERA) have all been superb too. The A’s have a collective 3.06 ERA from their starters, which ranks second in all of MLB and is unbelievable given the adversity they faced before the season started.