Agreed on Barnes potentially being team MVP.Pythag is likely over-rated if teams care more about bullpen arms than about limiting blowouts, and/or have a shut-down bullpen.
Well, the results (as of now) are as follows, for all MLB teams:
Hitting:
The Sox are significantly below average in walks (#22nd overall), but at-average in Ks (#16 overall) (even with Dalbec and Franchy.)
They are #2 in hits. With the low walks this translates to a mildly above average OBP. (#12)
In terms of power, they're #3, with a strong doubles component to that (#1 by a mile), likely a Fenway feature. For homers they're #9.
All that translates into their being #6 in runs, despite our OPS+ being #10. They're within 2 runs of the #4 spot, so they're right up there. Houston leads by a ton, so the offense has been fine, but could have been better if Cora had not commited to play so much dead weight.
Pitching:
Our ERA is league average, but we're #3 in saves. Barnes needs to be considered for team MVP.
We give up a lot of hits (#3) (#4 in hits/9) and walks (#10) but are pretty good (#7) in homer suppression, and are #7 in strikeouts. Possibly why we're #4 in stranding runners.
Our ERA+ is #11, far better than our straight ERA. . .but it seems very much a high-wire act.
Mesh them together and you've got the 6th best record in baseball, 64-46. If Cora was better at talent evals, motivation, and not punting on travel days, we'd likely be 66-44, for the second best record.
Offense may be fine, but wonder if it could be better with a more selective approach to the plate ... man do they expand the zone and hack their way to some very quick innings ...