I read it as "staff" which, to me, means THE ENTIRE STAFF, including the bullpen.

I think you have to look at both the strength of the starters as well as how good the back end was at closing things out.

If we're gonna judge, then I also think accomplishments should be part of the equation here. The Braves staffs of the 90s were awesome but they only won one title ( and we know over who). The A's staff won three in a row, something that has rarely been done in baseball.

Staff has to be a single year or few years (if no changes to said staff) of the same players including bullpen.

I'm going with the '83-'84 Providence Grays.

As a Cubs fan, reading this thread pisses me off. Not at any of you, but because the Cubs in the mid 2000's should have had a rotation that could have won a WS. I'm not saying they would necessarily belong on a list like this, but a rotation of...

Mark Prior
Kerry Wood
Greg Maddux
Carlos Zambrano
Matt Clement

should get the damn thing done. Especially in the playoffs when you only use three or maybe four starting pitchers. Had they stayed healthy, a playoff rotation of Prior, Wood, and Z is getting shit done at some point. Probably comparable to the CC/Cliff Lee/Carmona potential the Indians rotation had.

cview wrote: As a Cubs fan, reading this thread pisses me off. Not at any of you, but because the Cubs in the mid 2000's should have had a rotation that could have won a WS. I'm not saying they would necessarily belong on a list like this, but a rotation of...

Mark Prior
Kerry Wood
Greg Maddux
Carlos Zambrano
Matt Clement

should get the damn thing done. Especially in the playoffs when you only use three or maybe four starting pitchers. Had they stayed healthy, a playoff rotation of Prior, Wood, and Z is getting shit done at some point. Probably comparable to the CC/Cliff Lee/Carmona potential the Indians rotation had.

This staff had all the potential ... I remember the first time I saw a (healthy) Mark Prior pitch, he immediately brought back memories of Roger Clemens and Doc Gooden. What a shame.