I know we can not expect them to be this dominant all season. But with the offense waking up if the starters keep this up and Keuchal continues to round into form we could be looking at something special. Then you have Peacock and McHugh over there chewing at the bit for a shot. 7 quality starters. SEVEN. Remember the days of Mike Fiers, Scott Feldman, Doug Fister? We also have Forrest Whitley waiting in the wings. (Or will be waiting). Good time to be an Astros fan.
This is off topic but those leaders show you how messed up WAR can be - how in the world is Chris Sale, who has one less start than Verlander, above all three in WAR?
Pitching WAR isn't a great stat IMO. Aside from some very bizarre numbers that get spit out, 2 most popular WAR standards (fWAR and bWAR) are inherently different stats. One measure starts with how well you have prevented runs, while the other starts with peripherals and gauges how well you should have performed. I'm guessing ESPN uses bWAR, which is primarily based on runs allowed. Sale has allowed 3 runs in 22 innings, while Verlander has allowed 5 in 33. Sale also has a higher K rate. I personally don't think projection stats like FIP should count towards performance stats, but I really don't pay attention to pitching WAR at all.
That wouldn't explain Morton/Cole vs Porcello. The Astros have better ERAs, WHIPs, and K-Rates. Porcello has a much higher WAR. Do these take ballpark effects into consideration? Maybe that would explain the Fenway people being inflated somehow (ie, they are pitching even better than their stats)?
Yes, they do use park effects and peripherals. Like I said, I don't like pitching WAR. Never have, never will. We need it for fielders given position value and defense being so hard to quantify, but you can identify which pitchers are actually performing the best with fairly standard numbers.
You had to find pieces of GWAR tickets in the Beavis and Butthead game back in the day. That game was f**king hard. Back when games were hard. Now they've gone soft for the instant gratification generation.
