Head to head · Career pitching
Chris Sale vs Justin Verlander
In 2026 Chris Sale has been worth 5.8 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 | Chris Sale | Justin Verlander |
|---|---|---|
| G | 420 | 557 |
| GS | 339 | 557 |
| IP | 2,246.2 | 3,576.2 |
| W | 159 | 266 |
| L | 97 | 159 |
| SV | 12 | 0 |
| SO | 2,779 | 3,560 |
| BB | 518 | 1,007 |
| ERA | 2.95 | 3.33 |
| WHIP | 1.04 | 1.14 |
| K/9 | 11.1 | 9.0 |
| BB/9 | 2.1 | 2.5 |
| HR/9 | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| WAR | 60.0 | 72.9 |
2026 season
| Statistic | Chris Sale | Justin Verlander |
|---|---|---|
| G | 27 | 2 |
| GS | 27 | 2 |
| IP | 162.2 | 9.0 |
| W | 14 | 0 |
| SO | 200 | 7 |
| ERA | 2.16 | 7.00 |
| FIP | 2.29 | 6.88 |
| WHIP | 0.98 | 1.56 |
| K/9 | 11.1 | 7.0 |
| BB/9 | 1.7 | 3.0 |
| FIP− | 55 | 165 |
| WAR | 5.6 | -0.2 |
Postseason
Box-score figures only: October is kept out of the season constants, so there is no wOBA, FIP or dbWAR for it.
| Statistic | Chris Sale | Justin Verlander |
|---|---|---|
| G | 13 | 38 |
| GS | 9 | 37 |
| IP | 46.2 | 226.0 |
| W | 1 | 17 |
| SV | 0 | 0 |
| SO | 66 | 244 |
| BB | 14 | 74 |
| ERA | 5.79 | 3.58 |
| WHIP | 1.33 | 1.12 |
| K/9 | 12.7 | 9.7 |
| BB/9 | 2.7 | 2.9 |
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.