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Q. What are starting pitcher rankings?
A. Tennis, golf, and chess have objective "rankings." These are based on points for successes -- more points for bigger successes -- and the formulas are very well-considered.
In most rating systems, there is a chance to gain ground in head-to-head matchups; for example, Nick Faldo at one time had won three major tournaments in two years but still ranked very slightly behind Greg Norman, because Norman had finished ahead of Faldo in H2H, 19 times out of 30.
In chess, these rankings or "ratings" are cherished, and chessplayers have extreme confidence in the ratings. If you are rated 2100 and your opponent is rated 2200, you feel quite intimidated.
Right now, the tennis #1 is Novak Djokovic, the #2 Roger Federer. That quite reliably implies that, other things being equal, Djokovic is the player you'd least like to face this weekend.
The golf #1 is Luke Donald. The world chess #1 is Magnus Carlson of Norway; the champion Viswanathan Anand is the world's #4 ranked player.
Justin Verlander is the world's #1 ranked starting pitcher, with Roy Halladay #2. This quite reliably implies that, other things being equal, there's nobody you'd less like to face than Justin Verlander.
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"Starting Pitcher Rankings" are James' invention, of course, but as you can see from the webcam pic above, Dr. D was quick to take delight in the concept. We expect to base a lot of pre-series DOV scans on the Starting Pitcher Rankings.
