This year’s League Championship Series matchups are intriguing for a number of reasons. Among them: A test of the significance of starting rotation firepower in modern October baseball.
This LCS edition of the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings illustrates that point, especially on the NL side. While the Dodgers’ entire postseason rotation shows up here, the Brewers squeezed one pitcher into our top 10. The Mariners’ advantage over the Blue Jays is less stark but still present. (And that gap would have been wider if we knew Bryan Woo was close to 100% healthy for Seattle. Since that remains up in the air, Woo didn’t make the cut here.)
Then again, it’s Milwaukee and Toronto who are the top seeds in the NL and AL bracket, respectively, and both wildly outperformed expectations all season before taking down a division foe again to reach the LCS. Given the outsized importance of bullpens at this time of year, having the superior rotation (on paper, at least) guarantees nothing; still, it’s nice to have.
Here are the latest Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, which include only healthy starters for the four remaining playoff teams.
1. Blake Snell, Dodgers
Snell has started three career postseason games against Los Angeles, for two different teams. Well, the Dodgers sure are glad he’s on their side this time around. That’s exactly what the team had in mind when it signed him to a five-year deal this past offseason. The fact that left shoulder inflammation limited Snell to just two starts prior to Aug. 1 is inconsequential now. The Dodgers won the NL West anyways, with Snell posting a 2.41 ERA and 2.31 FIP over the final two months, striking out nearly a third of the batters he faced. It’s been more of the same this postseason for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, who led the Dodgers to victories in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series against the Reds and Game 2 of the Division Series against the Phillies, allowing a combined two runs on five hits in 13 innings.
2. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
Ohtani’s long-awaited postseason pitching debut, in Game 1 of the NLDS, in a tough environment in Philadelphia, resulted in a quality start (six innings, three runs) and a victory. It actually was even better than those numbers made it look. Ohtani allowed all three runs in the second inning but retired 13 of the final 15 batters he faced. He also got 23 swinging strikes and struck out nine. This came after a highly successful, if gradual, return to the mound over the final three months of the season. In his last four starts leading into the playoffs, Ohtani allowed one run and struck out 27 over 19 2/3 innings. Pretty good for a guy who is also batting leadoff.
3. Logan Gilbert, Mariners
This is the Starting Pitcher Power Rankings, but Gilbert actually enters the ALCS coming off a relief appearance — his first since he was a college sophomore in 2017. It was a heroic one, too, as Gilbert put up a pair of zeroes in extra innings to help Seattle advance in a win-or-go-home Game 5. (His six-inning Game 3 victory helped, too.) In his typical role, Gilbert has been about as steady as any pitcher in baseball over the past four seasons. He turns it up a notch in the comfy home environs of T-Mobile Park, where he has a 2.39 regular-season ERA over the past two years.
4. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers
Finally, at just the right time, the Dodgers have their rotation intact and clicking for October. But that was far from the case for most of the season, when it was Yamamoto who provided a much-needed steady hand amidst injury-fueled chaos. Looking considerably more comfortable in his second MLB season, Yamamoto took the ball 30 times and delivered a 2.49 ERA, leading the Majors with just 5.9 hits allowed per nine innings. Opponents batted just .183/.257/.283 against Yamamoto, who also fired a gem in the NL Wild Card Series clincher against the Reds before struggling a bit against the Phillies in the NLDS.
5. Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays
Is this an aggressive ranking? Without a doubt. Six months ago, Yesavage was making his pro debut for the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays against the Jupiter Hammerheads. One month ago, he had yet to pitch in the Majors. He enters the ALCS having pitched just 19 1/3 big league innings. But what a 19 1/3 innings it’s been, including 5 1/3 hitless (with 11 K’s) against the Yankees in ALDS Game 2. Yesavage may be a late bloomer, but as he said before that brilliant postseason debut: “I’m built for this.” He’s also a unique pitcher, in terms of his delivery and stuff, and that figures to be a challenge for a Mariners team that has never seen him before.
6. George Kirby, Mariners
Kirby has been excellent in his limited postseason career (1.50 ERA across three starts and one relief outing), and he was nails for the Mariners in Saturday’s ALDS Game 5 (five innings, one run). His regular season was better than his 4.21 ERA indicated, as Kirby posted a 3.37 FIP and 3.85 expected ERA, even as his walk rate rose from “otherworldly” to merely “very good.” Still, Kirby’s 45-to-2 K-to-BB ratio over his past five starts (regular season and postseason) indicates that the righty has found his groove heading into the ALCS.
7. Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers
How strong is Los Angeles’ rotation right now? Glasnow was the club’s No. 4 starter this postseason (and also on this list). This is a pitcher who would be the Game 1 starter in many rotations across the Majors. While staying on the mound has been a constant challenge for Glasnow throughout his career — including in 2025 (18 starts) — he is consistently effective on a per-inning basis. This season was no different (3.19 ERA, 29% K-rate), and Glasnow certainly looked the part of a postseason beast in the Dodgers’ NLDS Game 4 clincher, when he tossed six scoreless innings with 8 K’s.
8. Freddy Peralta, Brewers
Peralta was a rock for Milwaukee this year. As part of a rotation in which nobody else made 25-plus starts, Peralta took the ball 33 times, and Milwaukee won 20 of those. He’s always a reliable source of whiffs and strikeouts, although walks can give him trouble. Peralta issued five free passes — and three homers — in 9 2/3 innings across two NLDS starts against the Cubs, but he’ll have another shot at a signature postseason performance if he can tame the Dodgers his next time out.
9. Luis Castillo, Mariners
Castillo actually had gone even longer since his last relief appearance than Gilbert before coming out of the bullpen in extra innings to keep Seattle’s season alive in ALDS Game 5. In his case, it was back in 2016 as a 23-year-old in High-A for the Marlins. A whole lot has happened in Castillo’s career since then, most of it good. He’s made nearly 250 big league starts and been selected to three All-Star teams. Castillo’s past two seasons have been more solid than spectacular (356 innings with a 3.59 ERA), but solid has a lot of value, too. The nine-year vet also has delivered in October when given the chance, now with a 1.40 ERA in 25 2/3 postseason innings.
10. Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays
There is no doubt that Gausman has fallen off a bit from his 2021-23 peak, when he received Cy Young Award votes in each season and nabbed two All-Star selections and an AL strikeout title. Similar to Castillo in Seattle, Gausman has remained a durable contributor in Toronto, logging more than 180 innings in both 2024 and ‘25. The 34-year-old also authored a nice second-half rebound this year, with a 2.81 ERA and 5.3 K-to-BB ratio after the break, compared with 4.19 and 3.1 before. He then gutted out 5 2/3 strong innings and a victory over the Yankees in ALDS Game 1. Armed with his signature four-seamer/splitter combo, Gausman will look to give the Jays another series-opening win on Sunday.
