Cy Young winners, 1st-rounders fill World Series rotations

HOUSTON (AP) — The starting rotations for the World Series between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals are filled with former Cy Young winners and first-round draft picks.

Game 1 featured a pair of starting pitchers who were first-round draft picks — and so will Game 2. Two of the hurlers were No. 1 overall picks.

Gerrit Cole, a first-round pick both out of high school and then first overall out of college, was on the mound for the Houston Astros in the World Series opener Tuesday night against Washington. Three-time Cy Young winner and 2006 first-round pick Max Scherzer started for the Nationals.

Cole was picked 28th overall by the New York Yankees in 2008 but opted to go to UCLA and was selected first overall by Pittsburgh three years later. Scherzer was picked 11th overall by Arizona in 2006. He won the 2013 AL Cy Young before twice winning the NL award (2016-17).

The second game Wednesday features 2011 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, the second overall pick by Detroit in 2004 who is in his second World Series with Houston. Stephen Strasburg pitches for the Nationals, who took him first overall in the 2009 draft.

Another former Cy Young winner and first-round draft pick is scheduled to start for Houston in Game 3 in Washington on Friday night. Zack Greinke was the 2009 AL Cy Young winner for the Kansas City Royals, who drafted him in the first round in 2002.

This is the first World Series since 1945 to include six of the top 20 qualified pitchers in ERA for that season, according to Elias.

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THOSE GAME 2 STARTERS

Justin Verlander is 0-4 with a 5.67 ERA in five World Series starts going into his Game 2 outing.

"You know that the nerves are going to be higher. Your body knows it's not a regular start," Verlander said Tuesday. "Going to sleep...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Cy-Young-winners-1st-rounders-fill-World-Series-14554620.php