The Red Sox are the best team in baseball but their pitching staff hasn’t been great lately. Chris Sale and David Price want to change that.
Despite going 18-9 in August, the Boston Red Sox were right in the middle of the pack as a pitching staff. Maybe it’s fatigue or injury, but for the remainder of the season, the team will rely on Chris Sale and David Price the most entering October.
In August, the Red Sox had the 16th best ERA, 4.18. It wasn’t near the bottom, but for a team that had consistently good pitching throughout the year, it was pretty bad.
Especially with the resurgence of Price, you’d expect the staff ERA to be even better than what it was in the past, but that was not the case. With the temporary loss of Sale, the Red Sox team ERA slowly started to creep upward.
In fact, it was the first time in more than a year that the Red Sox had a team ERA above 4. In July, the team had the fourth best ERA in baseball, a much better 3.36 and in June it was 3.34.
The last time that their team ERA was above 4.0 was last May, when it was 4.13.
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If it hadn’t been for the way Price was pitching, their ERA could have been much worse. Throughout the month of August, Price pitched 30 innings, which was second most on the team, and he had the best ERA among Boston starters, 2.10. This is minus Sale’s one start before he went down.
The team had four starters who started at least three games and pitched to an ERA above 5. This is a huge contrast from July, where the Red Sox had just one such starter. If you take out Sale’s one start and Price’s five, the team ERA jumps to 4.59 in August.
So far in September, the team is looking to get back on the right track. The Red Sox came into their series with the New York Mets sporting a 3.77 team ERA.
Of course, the Red Sox still have the best record in baseball, by a lot, but if a team as good as the Red Sox has their team ERA rise by nearly a whole point near the end of the season, things in October might not look great.
The rest of the season can be turned around by both Sale and Price. Both pitchers should have about three starts left and close out the season on high notes, both in terms of personal success and for the team as a whole.
While the big story will be Sale and his continued success, but Price will close out the season on a strong note as well. Right now he’s gone 29 consecutive innings without giving up a run and it’s possible that the streak can keep going. As for Price, his ERA since the All-star game has been just 1.56.
The rest of the teams pitching line might pitch poorly or well, but Sale and Price will combine to go the extra mile.
If they do get three more starts each, my expectation is that they will combine to go 35 innings and give nine earned runs while the rest of the teams ERA will be 4.40.