The Red Sox backed into the playoffs last night thanks to a loss by the Texas Rangers. For the 3rd time in 4 postseasons, the Red Sox will again be facing the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the American League Divisional Series. Over the next week, we will be analyzing both teams piece by piece and provide you with a statistical outlook for the series.

Today, we will start with what we generally know about the teams before starting with the breakdown of the catching position tomorrow. This general breakdown will look at how the teams played in 2009, but might not account as much for new players.

Batting Value
According to total batting runs above average, the best three teams in MLB this year offensively were the Yankees, Angels and Red Sox. The Yankees have absolutely destroyed the league with a total of 199.8(as of 9/30/09).The Angels a distant second at 94.3 with the Red Sox are close behind at 88.1. At this point we don't need to account for replacement level or positional adjustments since team totals have almost the same amount of positional and replacement level value. With the Rays eliminated from the playoffs, the only other club with more than 50 batting runs above average, that leaves these three as 2009's offensive juggernauts.

Defensive Value
The Red Sox continue to trail the Angels here as they have cost themselves 18.1 runs from average defensively. This has been a positive for the Angels as they have totaled 10 runs above average on defense. Defense will be key to the makeup of the 2009 Boston/Angels matchup. The Red Sox have improved the defense some since adding Alex Gonzalez, but how much is something we will detail for you later this week.

Pitching Value
This is where the Red Sox have made their season count. The Red Sox had the best pitching staff this year with a RAR of 232.7. They had the best starting RAR and fourth best reliever RAR. These values really separate the two teams as the Angels only had a total RAR of 152.9. The Red Sox had 182.3 RAR just from their starters!

Over the next week we will look for positional value and what changes the team has made to the roster that may have helped or hurt these comparisons. Based just on team value during the 2009 season the Red Sox have a slight overall advantage, totalling 5 more Wins Above Replacement than the Angels.

Catching Matchup
Infield Matchup
Outfield and DH Matchup
Starting Pitching Matchup
Bullpen Matchup

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