Spring is right around the corner and that means Baseball!! Got me thinking… who has the best pitching staff in baseball? Is it the Phillies who signed Cliff Lee and have four aces out of their top five pitchers. How about the Giants who bring back the pitching staff that led them to the World Series title. Is there a surprise team that no one mentions as a top pitching staff? Take a look at my top three pitching staffs and let me know if there is another staff out there who should sneak into this list.

1) Phillies: You have to say the Phillies have the best starting five in MLB and potentially the best staff since the 1971 Baltimore Orioles which had four 20 game winners. They have the reigning Cy Young winner in Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt who went 7-1 with a 1.74 ERA after the trade with Houston,  Cliff Lee a former Cy Young winner who once went 22-3 with Cleveland and Cole Hammels one of the top young pitchers in baseball. Only question is Joe Blanton or Kyle Kendrick as the 5th starter,but really who cares. Phillies will be the team to beat and should be the World Series favorite.

2) Giants: They pitch in a pitcher friendly ballpark and have youth on there side. Look for Madison Bumgarner to have a big year and Barry Zito to be the highest paid 5th starter in baseball(Not a good thing). Tim Lincecum was a stud during the playoffs and is always tough to beat. Matt Cain could win 20 after strong postseason. Jonathan Sanchez will need to be consistent all year so the Giants won’t have to count on Zito. Giants should win the West and could meet the Phillies in a rematch of last years NLCS.

3) Oakland A’s: Check out these stats and compare them with any pitching staff in MLB: Brett Anderson 7-6 2.80 ERA  75 K’s, Trevor Cahill 18-8  2.97 ERA  118 K’s, Gio Gonzalez 15-9 3.23 ERA  171 K’s, Dallas Braden 11-14  3.50 ERA 113 K’s and a perfect game. Average age…25!!  Oakland led the AL with a 3.56 era, 17 shutouts and held opponents to a .245 batting average.  Question mark is 5th starter but they have many young guys to choose from in the minors and they also signed Rich Harden. If they can get any hitting they could be a team no one would like to play come October.