On Wednesday night, albeit after a loss to the New York Yankees, the Boston Red Sox clinched the AL East title when the Toronto Blue Jays fell to the Baltimore Orioles. The bracket is now set for the playoffs. The Texas Rangers finished the season with the best record in the American League and get home-field advantage throughout October. With a Red Sox loss Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Indians edged the Red Sox for the second seed in the AL. The Jays and Orioles meet in the Wild Card game.
Rick Porcello over David Price
Against the Indians, John Farrell has announced that Rick Porcello will start game one and David Price will pitch game two. Before the season, Price was paid over $200 million dollars to be the ace of the staff, although Porcello isn’t getting chump change either. With the big pay day came big expectations for the former Cy Young winner and Price mostly failed to fulfill them. Price was inconsistent all season, striking out a ton of batters (228), but giving up a ton of home runs (30). He finished tied for sixth in the AL in quality starts with 22, but finished with an ERA right under four. That’s not a great season by any stretch, but also not abysmal. At any rate, it’s not what fans expected from David Price.
After struggling mightily in his first season in Boston, Porcello has had a renaissance season. A Cy Young contender, Porcello finished fifth in the AL in ERA (3.15), and fourth in innings pitched. Porcello also finished second in WHIP, first in wins, and second with 25 quality starts. Porcello doesn’t possess the strikeout numbers of Price, but has still posted an impressive 189 punchouts, good for eighth in the league.
The only other significant metric in which Price has been better than Porcello is innings pitched. Simply put, Porcello has been the far superior pitcher in 2016. The decision to start Porcello over Price should have been an easy one for Farrell.
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