There have been other starting rotations that have performed better than the Red Sox' rotation, though, as indicated by the team's position atop the American League East, not many.
But of this, we're certain: no rotation has been more durable. And in Major League Baseball in 2021, that's half the battle.
The Red Sox learned that the hard way in 2020, when, finding themselves without David Price, Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez when the shortened schedule began, the Red Sox began a summer-long version of Community Auditions, seemingly giving starts to anyone with a uniform and a pulse.
When the season ended, 16 different starters had started games for the Red Sox. Most of those starters, mercifully, are now gone from the organization -- which also explains the team's strong first-half showing.
This year, the Sox have been remarkably fortunate when it comes to their starters' health. Right up through Wednesday's loss to the Angels to conclude the club's six-game visit to the West Coast, the Red Sox have played 88 games. And, incredibly, in 86 of those have been started by one of five of Boston's established starters: Eduardo Rodriguez, Nathan Eovaldi, Garrett Richards, Nick Pivetta and Martin Perez.
Only Tanner Houck, twice, has been able to crack that exclusive club. And one of those starts was part of a doubleheader, meaning the Big Five has missed exactly one start through three and a half months: Rodriguez's first turn. He experienced a dead arm phase at the end of spring training and the Sox, out of an abundance of caution, held him out of the first two series.
Other than that, the Sox have been as predictable as a metronome, with each member of the rotation taking his turn with the regularity of workers punching a clock.
Mostly, that's a good thing. Instead of scrambling to find bodies -- retreads, journeymen, and not-suitable-for-the-majors choices as they did a year ago -- the Sox can run out an accomplished major league starter every game, day after day. Far more than often than not, those starters manage to keep the Sox in the game. Of the 86 games in question, one of the five has pitched at least five innings 67 times, the third-most of any team in either league.
If a starter is competent enough to get more than halfway through the game for you, most times, that game is winnable. The Red Sox have a 4.38 ERA, which, while far from jaw-dropping, is good enough for the middle of the pack in the American League (eighth among the 15 teams).
That's the good news.
The bad news? The first-half workload by the Big Five could mean it will be tougher for them to remain healthy as the long season progresses.
Pitching coach Dave Bush, however, isn't the least bit worried.
"Those guys have been great,'' gushed Bush. "They've posted every five days. They've done it over and over again this entire stretch. Going into the year in April, we were a little cautious with them. We kept a couple of their outings short. We had some off-day earlier in the year and we built in a little extra time, knowing that we had these stretches coming up in the middle of the year. So we've prepared for it as best we could.
"The players have done a fantastic job with their treatment and preventative work, making sure that they're staying strong and getting in the trainer's room and doing all the stuff they have to do as part of their five- and six-day cycle, to make sure they can get out there and pitch. And they've done well. The biggest thing is they've done the work and they've performed.''
From here on out, however, the Sox plan to exercise even greater care. The Sox are mapping out the start of the second half to ensure the maximum amount of rest possible, including the likely inclusion of Houck into the rotation after the All-Star break.
To find another season in which the Sox used just six starters in the first half of the season, you'd have to go back to 2004. That's how rare this kind of durability is.
And it's possible there may be significant help on the horizon. Beyond what might happen at the trade deadline, the fact that Houck has rebounded from some flexor muscle issues and is pitching well for Worcester and available to parachute into the rotation in the next 10 days, is welcome.
So, too, is the prospect of Sale rejoining the rotation early next month. Sale is expected to have one more simulated game Saturday before commencing a rehab assignment that will end, Bush said, as soon as he builds up to five pitches.
Help, then, is on the way.
But now seems like a good time to salute the five starters who have taken the ball without interruption, all the way through the first half of the season for a team that, not incidentally, owns the best record in the league.