The Pittsburgh Pirates and K/BB ratios
The Pirates lead the league in ERA! Wow!
And look at the staff they're doing it with: "Ace" Paul Maholm, Zach Duke, Ian Snell, Jeff Karstens, and Ross Ohlendorf. So, the lesson is, even with a bunch of below average pitching talent, if you just try enough times, eventually your staff will be good? Not even close.
Strike out to walk ratio is a pretty good gauge of how a team's pitching over all. The League-Leading Pirates staff? 77/52, or 1.48.
Here's the K/BB ratio for the rest of the top 10 ERA teams:
Mariners, 109/50, 2.18
Royals, 120/48, 2.5
Dodgers, 113/50, 2.26
Marlins, 112/58, 1.93
Cardinals, 97/47, 2.06
Padres, 100/54, 1.85
Cubs, 118/57, 2.07
Blue Jays, 125/53, 2.36
A's, 92/62, 1.48
So it takes until the 10th team to find another team with a comparable ratio to the Pirates. This means they're getting lucky. I'm sure they're better than last year, but still lucky so far.
What IS encouraging is that we've only given up 10 home runs in 9 games. This is tied for 6th best in the league, with the Phillies (29 HR allowed!!) and Indians (24 HR allowed) hanging out at the other end of the spectrum, with their ERAs suffering as a result.
However, at least the Phillies have a great K/BB ratio (97/40 or 2.43) so you'd have to think they are getting unlucky and their ERA will be knocked down over the next couple months.
The Indians, on the other hand, have a ratio of 93/67 (1.39). Yeesh!! The pitching will not be pretty this year for the Tribe, as that is the worst K/BB ratio and HR allowed combo in the league, unless they have an unbelievable defense.
