Fielding:
Dodgers 88 errors = error ever 1.84 games
Houston 99 errors = error every 1.63 games
That is not a large difference spread out over 162 games. Very slight edge to Dodgers.
Pitching (ERA):
Dodgers 3.38
Houston 4.12
ERA is probably the best metric of a pitching staff as it removes the impact of a poor fielding team. Since the fielding ability of the two clubs is pretty even, the ERA stat appears to be informative indicating a Dodger advantage on this.
However, you might think the AL with the DH means higher scoring in the AL thus they may have ERA inflation. The average number of runs in the AL was 763 runs compared to the NL 743 runs. This is only 2.7% more runs. The league ERA differential is almost non-existent (4.37 in the AL 4.34 in the NL). The differential by ERA between the Dodgers and Houston is a whopping 22%.
Thus, strong edge to the Dodgers in pitching.
However, Houston did win 101 games that made them 3rd best (Cleveland was 2nd best with 102 and Dodgers were number 1 with 104) in the MLB this year. Houston won with offense. They were #1 in 9 of the 12 sortable batting categories. The Dodgers made the top 10 in just a few of the sortable categories.
Thus, strong edge to Houston for hitting.
As such, this appear to be shaping up to be the classic match-up between a team with powerful hitting against a team with strong pitching. When an irresistible force encounters an unmovable object who wins?
If you go to the stats limiting the data to the post-season what do you see?
Houston hitting has struggled. However, they faced good pitching in the form of the Yankees and still beat them over seven games. The Red Sox had better regular season pitching than Houston and were defeated in four games.
As a lifelong Dodger fan, I am rooting for them.
As a sports fan dedicated to looking at what the number say, the advantages of each club reside in different areas of the game making predictions difficult. Houston's hitting eventually wore down the pitching advantage (relative to Houston) of the Red Sox and the Yankees. On the other hand, Dodger pitching wore down the stronger offenses (compared to the Dodgers) that Arizona and Chicago had.
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