Gerrit Cole will face-off against the Nationals on Tuesday night at Minute Made Park. He will likely oppose 3-Time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer in a chance to cement himself into the history books. Cole has been absolutely dominate this postseason.
The last person to have such a memorable run in the postseason was Madison Bumgarner in 2014. Bumgarner went 4-1 with a 1.03 ERA in 52.2 IP that secured the Giants second championship in three seasons (sound familiar?). He had more than double than the second most innings pitched (Yordano Ventura 25.1 IP) that postseason and was almost flawless.
Gerrit Cole this Postseason
Gerrit Cole has the ability to mirror what Madison accomplished years ago. So far Cole is 3-0 with a 0.40 ERA in 22.2 IP. While he is not on pace to break 50 innings, he will still have a large sample of work. He has actually been even more effective than Bumgarner to this point. If he can continue to embarrass hitters on Tuesday night, he too will have a memorable postseason run that will be the pinnacle of his career. No matter how people feel about Bumgarner as a person or as a player in 2019, you have to respect what he was able to do on the biggest stage. Cole is on pace to do the same, though he will have to maintain his Hall-of-Fame-level play for one more series. If he can continue to give his team an automatic win each time he touches the mound, (19-0 since May 27th) the Astros should be well on their way to celebrating their second World Series title in three years.
If you want to see my article about Cole’s impending free agency click here.
Gerrit Cole will break the big contract stigma against Free Agent Pitchers