2017 Red Sox Will Set New Team Record For Innings Pitched

After the Red Sox's 15-inning win over the Rays on Friday night - the fourth game of at least 15 innings this season - Dr. Jeff asked:

What's the regular season record for # of innings played by a team? And are the Sox close?

After getting nowhere with Baseball Reference's Play Index, I posted the question to SABR-L.

In the meantime, I looked at 2016's totals: The Astros played the most innings: 1468. At the bottom of the list was the Angels, with 1421.1. That's a difference of only 46.2 innings (140 outs) over an entire season.

(Note: Innings pitched is not quite the same as innings played. Visiting teams do not pitch the last of the ninth about 45-47% of the time (the team plays nine innings, but the staff pitches only eight). An extra inning in which the game is won can have zero or only one or two outs. But innings pitched seems close enough for this discussion. ... Q: Should the criteria perhaps be batters faced in a season?)

I also learned that the 1943 Red Sox set a record by playing 31 extra-inning games. Yet they pitched only 1426.1 innings - just five innings more than the last place team in 2016. (Of course, the Angels played a slightly longer schedule.)

On Sunday evening, I received two answers to my query. One directed me to Fangraphs, where the leaderboard function can search players, teams, and even entire leagues. The other response told me how to get the info at BRef. So here are the Top 10 teams and the Top 10 Red Sox teams:

Most Innings Pitched In A Season (1901-2016)

IP       Year  Team
1506.2   1964  Yankees
1497.2   1969  Twins
1495.0   2013  Diamondbacks
1493.1   1979  Pirates
1491.0   1973  Dodgers
1490.1   1967  White Sox
1490.1   1968  Reds
1489.2   2015  Pirates
1489.2   1968  Tigers
1489.2   1988  Athletics

Most Innings Pitched In A Season (Red Sox) (1901-2016)

IP       Year
1472.2   1978 (tied for 82nd all-time)
1466.2   1969 (tied for 156th all-time)
1465.2   2014
1464.2   2003
1463.2   1966
1461.1   1985
1460.1   1989
1459.1   1967
1458.0   1996
1458.0   1976

Through 149 games, the 2017 Red Sox have pitched 1361.1 innings. Assuming a minimum of eight innings in their last six road games and nine innings in their seven upcoming home games, the Red Sox will finish with 1472.1 innings, one out shy of the team record.

However, because I am sure that this team will not lose all six games in Baltimore and Cincinnati next week, I shall guarantee that the 2017 Red Sox will set a new franchise record for innings pitched on the final weekend of the regular season!

In case you did not know, a person can get lost in the Play Index:

Top 5 Red Sox Pitching Staffs With Lowest WHIP: 1914, 1917, 1915, 1918, 1916. ... Okay, so Boston had some good staffs in the mid-teens! The best WHIP was 1.120. Looking at three next-best WHIPs, we have 1967, 2002, and 2017.

The worst team WHIP was 1.610, in 1932. That team also had the worst winning percentage in Red Sox history (43-111, .279 (the only season the team ever finished below .300)). ... The #2-#7 worst WHIP seasons were consecutive: 1926, 1925, 1927, 1930, 1928, and 1929. Holy shit!

The 2017 team has the highest K/9 ratio of any Red Sox team (9.6), with last year's team at #2 ((8.5). The top 13 seasons are all from the 2000s. (Players strike out a lot more than they used to.) The lowest seasons are 1925 (2.1), 1926 (2.3), and 1922 (2.3).

Triples: The 1937 team gave up 79, while the 1926 team allowed only 13. (MLB record: 95, by the 1930 Pirates. (15 of the top 16 teams are from 1930-1937.))

Wild Pitches: The 2015 staff had 79, but the 1928 team had only 11. (MLB record: 94, by the 2012 Rockies.)

Complete Games: The 1917 team had 115 (the major league record), while the 2011 team had 2. (This one is not really fair ...)

Only two Red Sox teams finished a season with zero shutouts: 2003 and 2005.

Finally:

Most and Fewest Extra-Base Hits Allowed In One Season

               GMS    2B   3B    HR   XBH
2001 Rangers   162   391   47   222   660
1916 Red Sox   156    60   17    10    87