There are two components to defense in baseball with the most significant being pitching. The thought is that we overlook pitching as being encompassed within the defense, but it is – the pitcher and the defensive players control the ball. That is unusual in sports.
The first part – pitching – is obviously a strength for the Boston Red Sox and it certainly got a significant upgrade with the addition of Chris Sale. Boston’s overall staff was ranked fourth in the American League. The pitching fWAR was 18.7. Metrics and traditional statistics show a staff that is above average.