All Nationals/Expos team, pitchers

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While the all Nationals team is weighted by former Montreal Expos, the same can be said about their pitching staff. The Expos had some pretty fair pitchers in their time. Of course, the Nats haven't done too badly in that category themselves.

Starting pitcher: Max Scherzer Max signed a free agent contract that is nearly impossible to live up to, but so far he's doing a pretty good job of it. Scherzer has pitched only three seasons for the Nats thus far, and has a won-lost record of 50-25 with an ERA of 2.76. In 2015 Scherzer led the NL in complete games with four and shutouts with three. In 2016 Max led the NL in wins, going 20-7 and also led the league in innings pitched with 228.1. His year by year strikeout totals with the Nats have been 276-284-268. Those last two totals also led the NL. Not surprisingly he won the NL Cy Young in 2016 and 2017. Max has averaged 11.3 strikeouts per nine innings in his tenure in Washington. In short, Scherzer has more strikeouts in Washington than a politician.

Starting pitcher: Steve Rogers Steve is the Expos all time leader in WAR with a total of 45.3 amassed in his 13 seasons with the Expos. Rogers was a good pitcher on some bad Expos teams. His final won-lost record is just a bit over .500 at 158-152, but with an excellent ERA of 3.17. His best season was 1982, when he went 19-8 with a league leading ERA of 2.40. He finished second in Cy Young voting that season. Rogers had nine seasons with double digit victories. Rogers was a five time all star and the anchor of the Expos staff for better than a decade.

Starting pitcher: Dennis Martinez After a decent run with the Baltimore Orioles, Martinez hit his stride with the Expos. In eight seasons in Montreal, Dennis went 100-72 with an ERA of 3.06. From 1989-1992, Martinez had three seasons with a WAR of 4.7 and another of 5.8. Dennis was a three time all star in Montreal. The highlight of Martinez's career was his perfect game against the San Diego Padres on July 28, 1991. Martinez was durable while with the Expos, pitching 200+ innings for six consecutive seasons.

Starting pitcher: Stephen Strasburg When all is said and done, Strasburg may be the greatest pitcher in franchise history. He has overpowering stuff, but in eight seasons with the Nationals he has surpassed 200 innings pitched only once. While Stephen has had success, it has been somewhat mitigated by injuries and strange choices about his usage. Despite that, he's put up some really nifty numbers. His record his is 84-51 with an ERA of 3.07. Stephen has averaged 10.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Couple that with a WHIP of 1.081 and you get a picture of how effective Strasburg is when he's able to take the mound. In 2014 Starsburg was able to make 34 starts and led the NL in strikeouts with 242. In 2017 Stephen was 15-4 with an ERA of 2.52. How high Starsburg ends up on this list will depend, in large part on his health.

Starting pitcher: Gio Gonzalez Gio has been overshadowed by bigger luminaries in the Nationals rotation, but he's really good in his own right. For his six seasons with the Nationals, Gonzalez has a record of 79-54 with an ERA of 3.49. His strikeout rate per nine innings is an impressive 8.8. Gonzalez's best season was 2012 when he went 21-8 with an ERA of 2.89. His WAR for that season was 4.9. His WAR for 2017 is even more impressive at 6.6. Gonzalez rounds out one of the strongest starting rotations among these franchise all star teams.

Relief pitcher: Jeff Reardon Jeff's primary claim to this slot is he's the Nationals/Expos all time saves leader at 152. He topped the NL in that category in 1985 with 41. Reardon spent six seasons with the franchise and while not overpowering, he was functional over along period of time. His strikeouts per nine inning was an uninspiring 7.1. His WHIP at 1.173 was a better indicator of Jeff's effectiveness.

Relief pitcher: Mel Rojas Mel was able to parlay some nice seasons with the Expos into a contract the Cubs regretted. Rojas spent eight seasons with the Expos and piled up 109 saves during that time. In the saves department, Mel really got going in the 1995 with 30. He followed that up with 36 saves in the 1996 seasons. Rojas gets this spot over any one of a number of other guys who could has just as easily got this slot.

Relief pitcher: Mike Marshall Marshall piled up 75 saves in his four seasons with the Expos. Mike compiled 31 saves in 1973, his last season in Montreal. Those 31 saves led the NL. The most amazing thing about Marshall is the workload he handled. He pitched 179 inning out of the Expos pen that season. Even more amazing, he pitched 208.1 innings out the Dodgers bullpen the following season, but that's another story.

So there's my Nationals/Expos pitching staff. How does it compare to yours?

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