Baseball is an amazing sport, filled with amazing players, amazing statistics, and amazing plays.  This series explains a variety of statistics and plays that might not be familiar to baseball fans, but weâ€(tm)re sure youâ€(tm)d be interested if we discussed them.
What Does ERA Stand For in Baseball?
Major League Baseball became a formalized sport in 1876, when the first professional league was formed. The National League was founded in 1876 by four “trusts” of clubs (the American Association, the National League, the Western League, and the St. Louis Brown Stockings); and the International League was founded in 1884.
How Does ERA Work?
On a hit a batter, the batter is awarded one unearned run. For a home run, both are awarded an unearned run. Unearned runs are not recorded as runs.
Every pitcher’s ERA is computed by dividing the pitcher’s earned run average by a league-average of about one in nine, which means that every pitcher in the American League has a higher-than-average ERA, and pitchers in the National League have a lower-than-average ERA.
ERA stands for ERA is what it says; ERA is an early baseball stat. It was developed in the late 1800s and it’s based on the assumption that a pitcher’s win/loss record will follow a straight-line increase (or decrease) based on his earned run average. The ERA was conceived as a replacement for run scoring in the early 1900s, when run scoring was still a significant factor in determining a team’s fate.
What is the formula to calculate ERA?
A pitcher’s ERA may be calculated as half of walks plus hits divided by innings pitched, or in this case, in hits allowed divided by innings pitched. In this example, they’ve allowed 20 hits, so you’d divide 20 by 100 and then multiply by 9. This ERA comes out to a 3.60 for this pitcher.
What Happens if a Pitcher Leaves the Game with Men on Base?
It is important to note that if a pitcher exits a game with runners on base, any runs earned by those runners still count against their ERA, and that even if those runs are not earned, they still count against the pitcher.
Is a High or Low ERA Better?
A pitcher’s main objective is to prevent other teams from scoring runs. A lower ERA means that the pitcher has allowed fewer base runners to score. Therefore, a low ERA is a better score than a high ERA.
In 21st century baseball, the best pitchers in the world (other than the Yankees) are all right-handed and have ERAs around 2.75, and they throw fastballs. It’s amazing that they can throw fastballs and get their innings in this day and age.
Who Had some Great ERA’s in their Career?
Bob Gibson achieved a 1.12 ERA in 1968, the same as the lowest earned run average achieved by any pitcher in the modern era. He won 22 games that season, and he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1985.
The White Sox won the World Series for the first time in almost a decade, defeating the New York Giants 4 games to 3 in a tight matchup.
Joe DiMaggio, who is probably the greatest all-around baseball player of all time, was also the best hitter and best left handed pitcher and probably the best fielding player of the 20th century.
Martinez’s career ERA of 2.93 would be the lowest ever allowed by any pitcher with at least 5,000 innings pitched. It is also the lowest ERA for any pitcher with at least 3,000 innings pitched.
In the past three years, seven pitchers have won the Cy Young award with an ERA of 3.00 or less. In that time, only one pitcher – Cliff Lee in 2009 – had an ERA of 3.00 or less.
Who Has the Lowest ERA Ever?
Keefe set the record for the lowest-ever one-season ERA in baseball history in 1880 while playing for the National League Troy Trojans.
The 1914 season was the first time that Dutch Leonard played in the major leagues and he had an ERA of 0.96.
How is ERA Different for a Starter vs. a Reliever?
It’s not that starters don’t pitch as hard or don’t pitch to contact to get batters out quickly. It’s that they have to pace themselves to pitch a certain number of innings. If you pitch six innings on one day and seven the next, it’s unlikely you’ll throw a lot of pitches and that will affect your ability to perform at a high level.
Can you have a Zero ERA?
It may come as a surprise that earned runs account for over 90% of runs in baseball. Unearned runs are relatively rare. This earned run metric results in ERA scores being higher than you might initially think.
Players can have a 0 ERA, but this is not usually accurately representing their skill. A 0 ERA is also sometimes called undefined or infinite ERA.
The New York Yankees retired Babe Ruth’s uniform number, 27, in 1995, and they did so at the insistence of the then-owner, George Steinbrenner. However, the uniform wasn’t formally retired in the Bronx until March 21, 2009, after George Steinbrenner died and ownership was transferred to his daughter, Hal Steinbrenner.
Conclusion
ERA is a great stat because it is easy to understand and gives a quick glance as to how effective a pitcher is in regards to the team he is pitching for. However, the best stat for a pitcher is WHIP because it allows the reader to see how many walks and hits a pitcher gives up per inning.
