Magic number 25?

What could go wrong?

With the suddenly struggling Braves and Pirates losing again yesterday, we're now down to 21 for the wild card and 24 for the division.

Starts like that make me pretty comfortable going into the postseason with Gio as the ace. Granted, Strasburg will be missed, but Gio-Zimmermann-Jackson is nothing to sniff at.

If John Lannan is even half as good as at AAA the Nats won't be taking much of a downgrade. I expect he'll put up one big stinker, but Strasburg did that last Tuesday so nobody's perfect. The Nats' bullpen is a bit scary of late, though. Sean Burnett in particular, with honorable mention to Matheus, against the Cards.

Cross your fingers and clench your sphincters.

With the expanded rosters hopefully they can give Burnett and some of the other guys a bit of a breather. I'd skip Zimmerman once, too, or at least pull him after 75 pitches or something. He looks wiped.

Who is this mystery pitcher named John Lannan who pitched so good in AAA that he doesn't even have to pitch that well to be only considered a slight downgrade from Strasburg?

1.44 WHIP
1.72 K/BB
10 hits a game, 1 homer a game
4.30 ERA
24 starts

Magic number 25?

What could go wrong?

Only thing I can see would be that coolstandings.com says that it's always been over. The Braves and the Red Sox can tell you something about that.

I'm guessing Lannan has been working on some things in Syracuse, boosting his repertoire of pitches to complement that strong sinker of his. No one is asking him to be Strasburg, just someone who, like Detwiler, can excel in the back of the rotation. (And it's rare that more than four starters are used in a best-of-seven series.)

i think once it's postseason a team tries to stick to 3 starters if the off days work right

Was Lannan on the DL? Was he on the 25 on August 31?