If there was a theme to last season’s Astros, it was their incredible run prevention. Sure, the lineup did its thing, posting a 112 wRC+, the sixth-best mark in baseball. But the story revolved around the pitching staff and the defense behind it. After all, no team received more value from their pitchers (27 fWAR) than Houston, with only the Dodgers posting a lower cumulative ERA. By FIP, the Astros were better by 0.15 runs than the second-place Giants, who were closer to the sixth-placed Yankees in this metric.
In terms of the starting rotation, the Astros were only second to the Dodgers in ERA and the Giants in FIP.