NFT: Questions about WAR computation for pitchers

So, I'm just surfing the net and relaxing waiting for the Giants game and wanted to check out WAR leaders just to see.

I'm absolutely a big baseball fan, but really haven't ever gotten my head around WAR -- I'm just not a huge math guy and once we start getting to multi-category stats beyond OPS, I kind of lose it.

I understand the concept of WAR and the general values of when someone is a starter, all-star, MVP candidate etc. by WAR. But I don't really understand what it shows especially with pitchers.

So, anyway I want to ask a couple of questions about Nola v. deGrom in WAR.

I found two sites and two different listings:

Fangraphs (linked here) has deGrom leading the league at 7.7 and has Nola 7th at 5.3.

Baseball Reference (which I'll link in my next post) has Nola 1 at 9.4 and deGrom 3rd at 8.3.

How can there be such a big difference? Also, what stats are they looking at to possibly put Nola ahead? deGrom has better ERA better ERA_, lower WHIP, better K/9, lower BB/9, more IP per start, less HR per 9 -- so, what is BB reference looking at to rank Nola ahead of deGrom -- just doesn't make sense to me at all. Any insight as to what WAR prioritizes and the different models would be really great.

Thanks!


Fangraphs WAR - ( New Window )