The Price of (Chris) Sale

Chris Sale. Rick Porcello. David Price. Stephen Wright. Eduardo Rodriguez.

This is your Red Sox starting rotation.

What does this have to do with Vanderbilt, you ask? Simple. David Price, elite pitcher out of Vandy, is now a part of the most elite starting pitching rotation in Major League Baseball.

Not only that, but he got -bumped down-. Even more. David Price is not the ace in this starting rotation.

As we know, Rick Porcello won the Cy Young award beating out Justin Verlander despite receiving less first-place votes, as Kate Upton so vehemently documented on social media:

Now add in Chris Sale to the rotation, and you have one of the best pitching staffs in the country.

But wait-- do you remember my article about David Price not being able to win in the postseason? Well, believe it or not, the addition of Chris Sale to the Porcello-Price pitching staff is not going to change that stat.

That's right. Elite pitching doesn't guarantee wins in the postseason. It helps, even if the pitcher isn't awarded a W but the team still wins (that's all that really matters anyway, right?).

Chris Sale doesn't have any MLB postseason stats with the White Sox.

And Rick Porcello lost three games between 2011-2016 with Detroit. In 20.2 innings, he has a 5.66 ERA.

Surely this is all bound to be moot and David Price will finally wind up with a postseason to be proud of, right? I mean, look how well it worked for the Phillies in 2011.

Regardless of whether the Red Sox even have a starting pitcher who can win in the postseason, it surely seems to make them the favorites to win the last game of the season in 2017. Newly acquired bullpen pitcher Tyler Thornburg certainly seems to think so: