MLB

MLB Postseason: Ranking the Starting Rotations

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8) Texas Rangers

Starters xFIP: 4.64 (8th)

Starters SIERA: 4.67 (8th)

K-BB %: 10.0% (8th)

Projected Rotation: Cole Hamels, Yu Darvish, Colby Lewis, Martin Perez

This is a horrifically bad starting pitching staff after you get past the top two arms.

The Texas Rangers are led by Hamels, who recorded a 3.99 SIERA in 2016 with a hard-hit rate of 32.3%. That hard-hit rate is the second-highest of Hamels' career, only beaten by a 33.7% mark in 2007. Also, Hamels' 2016 walk rate of 9.1% is another career-worst mark.

Perhaps the best pitcher for the Rangers in 2016 was Darvish, who returned from Tommy John surgery to post a sparkling 3.08 SIERA over 100 1/3 innings. Darvish posted a tremendous 31.7% strikeout rate. He got stronger as the year went on, surging to a 32.1% strikeout rate in the second half and dropping his hard contact rate by 7% after the break.

But this is where the positives end.

Lewis has been really bad, sporting a 4.95 SIERA this season. Lewis allows a lot of contact, period, striking out only 15.5% of batters, and unfortunately, a lot of it is hard contact. He's allowed 1.47 home runs per nine innings this year.

And if you thought that was bad, Perez was even worse. Perez pitched 198 2/3 innings with a 5.11 SIERA, and he barely struck out more hitters (12.1%) than he walked (8.9%).