Foster Griffin headshot

Foster Griffin

Cleveland Guardians · through 2026-09-01

Elite season

Why he matters right now

Foster Griffin is top-10 in the majors in wins

He is 3rd in wins at 15 — placements on MLB's own season boards, which rank every QUALIFIED pitcher in the sport rather than the few dozen this site tracks. Qualified is MLB's own bar, and it is the reason a part-season player with a big number is not on these boards at all.

This has been his headline for 20 straight days.

The case in 30 seconds

  • 15 3rd in wins at 15 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  • 3.21 ERA over 154 innings, with 139 strikeouts, 27 starts and a 1.12 WHIP snapshot pitching board — the union of MLB's top-10 pitching boards, then MLB's 1.0 IP per team game rule applied; not the league's full qualified pool

The honest caveat

The open question is workload. He is at 154 innings over 27 starts; the same rate to the end of the season means roughly 181. Velocity and innings both have to hold, and neither is guaranteed — this page reports what the measurements say, not what a medical staff knows.

What to watch next

Next up: vs Toronto Blue Jays.

Every claim above, with its source (2)
  1. 3rd in wins at 15 on MLB's season leaderboards MLB season leaderboard (the league's own top-10 board of qualified players, not this site's roster)
  2. ERA over 154 innings, with 139 strikeouts, 27 starts and a 1.12 WHIP snapshot pitching board — the union of MLB's top-10 pitching boards, then MLB's 1.0 IP per team game rule applied; not the league's full qualified pool

The evidence

What to watch next

vs Toronto Blue Jays Progressive Field · 1:10 p.m. ET Opposite José Soriano

Situational splits

SplitIPERASOWHIPAVG against
vs RHP 93.1 75 1.18 .246
vs RHP 18.0 14 1.39 .268
vs RHP 111.1 89 1.21 .249
vs LHP 36.0 41 0.81 .171
vs LHP 6.1 9 1.42 .240
vs LHP 42.1 50 0.90 .182
Home 59.0 2.90 50 1.10 .231
Home 15.0 4.80 16 1.40 .281
Home 74.0 3.28 66 1.16 .241
Away 70.1 3.20 66 1.05 .221
Away 10.0 2.70 7 1.30 .231
Away 80.1 3.14 73 1.08 .223
Day 58.1 3.39 51 1.22 .244
Day 14.0 5.79 14 1.57 .291
Day 72.1 3.86 65 1.29 .254
Night 71.0 2.79 65 0.96 .211
Night 11.0 1.64 9 1.09 .220
Night 82.0 2.63 74 0.98 .212

2026 season, MLB Stats API. A split with no plate appearances is omitted rather than shown as zeroes.

27G
27GS
154.1IP
15-4W-L
3.21ERA
1.12WHIP
139K
8.11K/9
0SV

Strikeout chase

ChaseCurrentPaceNeeded from hereStatus
200 K 139 163 61 K · 13.0 per outing over 4.7 left EXTREME
250 K 139 163 111 K · 23.6 per outing over 4.7 left IMPOSSIBLE
300 K 139 163 161 K · 34.3 per outing over 4.7 left IMPOSSIBLE
350 K 139 163 211 K · 44.9 per outing over 4.7 left IMPOSSIBLE
383 K 139 163 244 K · 51.9 per outing over 4.7 left IMPOSSIBLE

ERA & WHIP finish lines

FinishCurrentRequired rest-of-seasonStatus
Sub-2.00 ERA3.21 -4.94 over about 27 innings IMPOSSIBLE
Sub-1.75 ERA3.21 -6.63 over about 27 innings IMPOSSIBLE
Sub-1.50 ERA3.21 -8.32 over about 27 innings IMPOSSIBLE
Sub-1.00 WHIP1.12 0.30 EXTREME
Sub-0.90 WHIP1.12 -0.37 IMPOSSIBLE

Recent game log

Derived nightly from the snapshot ledger — each row is the difference between consecutive days; multi-day rows are labeled.

DateOppResultIPK
2026-08-18 San Francisco Giants W 8-1 6.06
2026-08-12 Detroit Tigers W 6-4 5.03
2026-08-06 New York Mets L 6-13 4.06
2026-07-31 Atlanta Braves L 2-6 5.13
2026-07-25 Arizona Diamondbacks W 5-3 6.22
2026-07-19 Athletics W 5-2 7.02

Lahman + Retrosheet context

How this season fits history

Comparable finishesMedian 159 K

n=507 near this checkpoint

Chase history

10912413907-0809-01
Strikeouts, day by day
16217518807-0809-01
Projected season K, day by day

Stuff watch

Cutter velocity, start by start

Every start's average against his own trailing baseline of 88.2 ± 0.7 mph. Ringed dots sit more than one standard deviation under the baseline; last start 88.77 mph (2026-07-31).

89872026-03-30: 88.75 mph (n=29)2026-04-05: 88.02 mph (n=29)2026-04-11: 87.66 mph (n=30)2026-04-16: 87.52 mph (n=25)2026-04-21: 87.98 mph (n=21)2026-04-26: 87.96 mph (n=29)2026-05-02: 87.48 mph (n=29)2026-05-08: 87.53 mph (n=38)2026-05-14: 87.37 mph (n=31)2026-05-19: 87.97 mph (n=28)2026-05-24: 87.22 mph (n=27)2026-05-30: 87.66 mph (n=28)2026-06-05: 88.75 mph (n=15)2026-06-10: 88.76 mph (n=33)2026-06-16: 89.02 mph (n=29)2026-06-22: 88.81 mph (n=32)2026-06-27: 88.33 mph (n=49)2026-07-03: 89.06 mph (n=34)2026-07-08: 89.38 mph (n=36)2026-07-19: 88.63 mph (n=38)2026-07-25: 88.93 mph (n=39)2026-07-31: 88.77 mph (n=24)

No active signals — inside one standard deviation of his own baseline. A trend report, not a diagnosis.