Head to head · Career pitching
Jon Lester vs Chris Sale
In 2021 Chris Sale has been worth 1.1 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 | Jon Lester | Chris Sale |
|---|---|---|
| G | 452 | 420 |
| GS | 451 | 339 |
| IP | 2,740.0 | 2,246.2 |
| W | 200 | 159 |
| L | 117 | 97 |
| SV | 0 | 12 |
| SO | 2,488 | 2,779 |
| BB | 892 | 518 |
| ERA | 3.66 | 2.95 |
| WHIP | 1.28 | 1.04 |
| K/9 | 8.2 | 11.1 |
| BB/9 | 2.9 | 2.1 |
| HR/9 | 1.0 | 0.9 |
| WAR | 45.0 | 60.0 |
2021 season
| Statistic | Jon Lester | Chris Sale |
|---|---|---|
| G | 28 | 9 |
| GS | 28 | 9 |
| IP | 141.1 | 42.2 |
| W | 7 | 5 |
| SO | 91 | 52 |
| ERA | 4.71 | 3.16 |
| FIP | 5.41 | 3.69 |
| WHIP | 1.51 | 1.34 |
| K/9 | 5.8 | 11.0 |
| BB/9 | 3.5 | 2.5 |
| FIP− | 127 | 86 |
| WAR | -0.2 | 0.9 |
Postseason
Box-score figures only: October is kept out of the season constants, so there is no wOBA, FIP or dbWAR for it.
| Statistic | Jon Lester | Chris Sale |
|---|---|---|
| G | 26 | 13 |
| GS | 22 | 9 |
| IP | 154.0 | 46.2 |
| W | 9 | 1 |
| SV | 0 | 0 |
| SO | 133 | 66 |
| BB | 40 | 14 |
| ERA | 2.51 | 5.79 |
| WHIP | 1.02 | 1.33 |
| K/9 | 7.8 | 12.7 |
| BB/9 | 2.3 | 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.