MLB

MLB Postseason: Ranking the Starting Rotations

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7) Boston Red Sox

Starters xFIP: 4.29 (7th)

Starters SIERA: 4.22 (6th)

K-BB %: 14.4% (6th)

Projected Rotation: Rick Porcello, David Price, Clay Buchholz, Eduardo Rodriguez

Game 1 goes to Porcello, who led baseball with 22 wins on the season. Porcello sported a healthy 3.15 ERA and strong 3.78 SIERA with a meager 3.6% walk rate. Porcello's walk rate ranked second amongst qualified starting pitchers.

Price, meanwhile, the expected ace of the staff, struggled somewhat in his first season in Boston. In 230 innings, Price recorded a strong 3.60 SIERA, but he allowed a career worst 34.8% hard-hit rate. Price's home run rate nearly doubled to 1.17 home runs per nine innings pitched, and that mark ballooned to 1.34 home runs per nine at Fenway.

The rotation only gets worse from here. While Buchholz pitched better in the second half of 2016 with a 3.22 ERA, there's a reason he only logged 58 2/3 innings pitched in the second half as he lost a rotation spot. A 5.09 SIERA with a K-BB% of only 6.5% shows Buchholz wasn't fooling much of anyone.

Rodriguez, meanwhile, was nearly as bad as Buchholz. He logged a 4.45 SIERA in 107 innings pitched, and he was absolutely horrific at Fenway to the tune of a 6.02 ERA while allowing a 356 wOBA.