Stephen Strasburg Has Chance to Dominate Free Agency in Gerrit Cole's Wake

Gerrit Cole will be the top target on the free agent market, and you can understand why. He dominated the regular season, winning 20 games to go along with 326 strikeouts over 212.1 innings, and in the postseason he owns a 3-1 record with a 1.82 ERA.

However, he's not the only potential free agent starter pitching in the World Series-- specifically, he's not the one who hasn't lost in October. That would be Stephen Strasburg.

Strasburg has been utterly dominant, going 4-0 with a 1.93 ERA in five October appearances, including Game 2 of the World Series, in which he went six innings and allowed just two runs to go along with seven strikeouts.

Strasburg has an opt-out clause in his current deal, and since he already signed an extension early as a Scott Boras client, there's no full guarantee he'll hit free agency this winter. However, with the way he's pitched during the regular season and now in the playoffs, he would be silly not to opt out (even if that means simply going back to Washington for more money here and now).

You keep hearing that Cole might be the first pitcher to ever be a $40 million a year guy, but there might be two of them if Strasburg jumps into the free agent pool.

He's been a killer in October over his career, and with the value of starting pitching being what it is, his price will be awfully high. But considering his scorching run of form, the timing is perfect to test the waters.