How do we explain Kevin Brown having the highest WAR of any pitcher in 1998?
Per Baseball Reference (link), Kevin Brown put up 8.6 WAR in 1998, the most of any pitcher that year. Tom Glavine won the NL Cy Young, probably because he had the most wins. Glavine had a great season, and I'm not here to talk about voting criteria or argue that Kevin Brown should have won; I'm just curious as to why Kevin Brown's WAR was so high in the first place. Brown's 8.6 WAR was well above Glavine's 6.1, and even Greg Maddux's 6.6, despite Maddux and Brown having pretty similar stats:
Brown: 2.38 ERA, 257 IP, 49 BB, 257 K, 1.066 WHIP, 2.23 FIP, 0.3 HR9
Maddux: 2.22 ERA, 251 IP, 45 BB, 204 K, 0.980 WHIP, 2.81 FIP, 0.5 HR9
In addition, Maddux threw 2 more complete games, 2 more shutouts, beaned three fewer batters, threw six fewer wild pitches, and won the Gold Glove (for what that's worth).
So it seems WAR gives Brown the edge based on his strikeouts and, consequently, his FIP. Is WAR just really weighted toward FIP, or is there something else at play? In 1996, Brown again led NL pitchers in WAR: 7.9 compared to Smoltz's 7.4, where Brown had a much lower ERA and gave up fewer homers but Smoltz pitched more innings and had way more strikeouts, ultimately leading to a lower FIP.
This interests me because from what I understand, Baseball Reference computes pitching WAR mostly with Runs Allowed and Innings Pitched, unlike FanGraphs, which computes it with FIP.
I'd be interested in whatever information you guys have about why Kevin Brown's WAR was so much higher than his peers in these seasons despite similar stats. Let me know if factors like ballpark, team defense, or high-leverage situations that played a role in these cases. I know it was a long time ago but I figured I'd ask.