Head to head · 2026 pitching

Max Fried vs Framber Valdez

In 2026 Max Fried has been worth 1.4 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.

Both among the 25 most valuable pitchers of 2025 by dbWAR.
Both near the front of the 2025 AL Cy Young race: among the league's 8 most valuable pitchers by dbWAR.

Max Fried NYY

Framber Valdez DET

2026 season

2026 pitching. The stronger figure in each row is highlighted — for ERA, FIP, WHIP and walks that is the lower one.
Statistic	Max Fried	Framber Valdez
G	20	31
GS	20	31
IP	112.2	174.0
W	5	10
SO	104	135
ERA	2.80	4.03
FIP	2.65	4.14
WHIP	0.99	1.36
K/9	8.3	7.0
BB/9	2.6	3.5
FIP−	63	99
WAR	3.5	2.1

Postseason

Box-score figures only: October is kept out of the season constants, so there is no wOBA, FIP or dbWAR for it.

Every published postseason, pitching, summed with the rates recomputed from the counts.
Statistic	Max Fried	Framber Valdez
G	24	17
GS	16	16
IP	88.0	85.0
W	3	7
SV	0	0
SO	86	95
BB	24	34
ERA	5.11	4.34
WHIP	1.45	1.36
K/9	8.8	10.1
BB/9	2.5	3.6

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.

Career pitching totals. ERA, WHIP and the per-nine rates are recomputed from the components rather than averaged; FIP needs each season’s own constant and is left to the season table.
Statistic	Max Fried	Framber Valdez
G	220	219
GS	203	197
IP	1,192.1	1,254.2
W	97	91
L	46	64
SV	0	0
SO	1,156	1,188
BB	330	456
ERA	3.01	3.46
WHIP	1.14	1.23
K/9	8.7	8.5
BB/9	2.5	3.3
HR/9	0.7	0.7
WAR	28.3	23.5

Max Fried’s full profile →Framber Valdez’s full profile →

More head to heads

The same seasons, measured against somebody else.

Max Fried vs

Framber Valdez vs

How these are computed

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.