Head to head · Career pitching
John Lackey vs Chris Sale
In 2017 Chris Sale has been worth 6.8 more wins. Both lines are computed from play-by-play on the same constants, so they are measured the same way rather than quoted from two sources.
- Two of the 25 most valuable pitching careers on this site, 2005–2026, by dbWAR.
Career
Totalled over the seasons published here, which is not the same as a whole career: a player who debuted before 2005 begins at 2005, not at his real first game.
| Statistic | John Lackey | Chris Sale |
|---|---|---|
| G | 364 | 420 |
| GS | 363 | 339 |
| IP | 2,329.2 | 2,246.2 |
| W | 155 | 159 |
| L | 114 | 97 |
| SV | 0 | 12 |
| SO | 1,930 | 2,779 |
| BB | 656 | 518 |
| ERA | 3.81 | 2.95 |
| WHIP | 1.27 | 1.04 |
| K/9 | 7.5 | 11.1 |
| BB/9 | 2.5 | 2.1 |
| HR/9 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| WAR | 35.1 | 60.0 |
2017 season
| Statistic | John Lackey | Chris Sale |
|---|---|---|
| G | 31 | 32 |
| GS | 30 | 32 |
| IP | 170.2 | 214.1 |
| W | 12 | 17 |
| SO | 149 | 308 |
| ERA | 4.59 | 2.90 |
| FIP | 5.30 | 2.45 |
| WHIP | 1.28 | 0.97 |
| K/9 | 7.9 | 12.9 |
| BB/9 | 2.8 | 1.8 |
| FIP− | 122 | 56 |
| WAR | 0.4 | 7.2 |
Postseason
Box-score figures only: October is kept out of the season constants, so there is no wOBA, FIP or dbWAR for it.
| Statistic | John Lackey | Chris Sale |
|---|---|---|
| G | 24 | 13 |
| GS | 20 | 9 |
| IP | 121.2 | 46.2 |
| W | 6 | 1 |
| SV | 0 | 0 |
| SO | 97 | 66 |
| BB | 41 | 14 |
| ERA | 3.62 | 5.79 |
| WHIP | 1.27 | 1.33 |
| K/9 | 7.2 | 12.7 |
| BB/9 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
More head to heads
The same seasons, measured against somebody else.
FIP uses the constant solved from this season’s own runs, and FIP− is park-adjusted against the same league. dbWAR is our own open implementation — not fWAR or bWAR — and the full derivation, including its simplifications, is on the methodology page. To put these two beside a third, the comparison page takes up to four.