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Best ERA+ for a pitcher with at least 15 losses, 1970-2007

Posted by Andy on December 17, 2007

Again, the title says it all. I had to limit it to 1970 since 15 losses was quite common earlier in the century, even for great pitchers. (It wasn't so rare to see guys with 28-15 seasons, for example.)

Anyway, here are all the pitchers with an ERA+ of at least 125 with 15 or more losses, 1970-2007:

  Cnt Player            **ERA+**  L Year Age Tm  Lg  G  GS CG SHO GF  W  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  HR  BF   AB  2B 3B IBB HBP  SH  SF GDP  SB CS Pk BK WP   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  OPS+  Pit  Str
+----+-----------------+--------+--+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+
    1 Gaylord Perry        170   16 1972  33 CLE AL  41 40 29   5  1 24  .600  1 342.2 253  79  73  82 234   1.92 17 1345 1235 43  9  16  12  15   1  27   5  8  0  0 11  .205  .261  .296  .557   68           
    2 Mike Marshall        166   15 1979  36 MIN AL  90  1  0   0 84 10  .400 32 142.2 132  47  42  48  81   2.65  8  586  520 21  6   2   4  10   4  21   7  6  4  1  8  .254  .319  .363  .682   80           
    3 Bert Blyleven        158   17 1973  22 MIN AL  40 40 25   9  0 20  .541  0 325   296 109  91  67 258   2.52 16 1321 1221 42 11   4   9  11  13  15  18 11  1  2  7  .242  .284  .334  .618   71           
    4 Dave Roberts         157   17 1971  26 SDP NL  37 34 14   2  3 14  .452  0 269.2 238  79  63  61 135   2.10  9 1086  990 37  4   9   5  17  12  37  12  4  0  0  4  .240  .285  .313  .598   77           
    5 Jon Matlack          149   15 1974  24 NYM NL  34 34 14   7  0 13  .464  0 265.1 221  82  71  76 195   2.41  8 1076  980 28  5  11   5   8   7  18  23 11  6  1  4  .226  .283  .289  .572   66           
    6 Orel Hershiser       148   15 1989  30 LAD NL  35 33  8   4  0 15  .500  0 256.2 226  75  66  77 178   2.31  9 1047  942 41  2  14   3  19   6  29  11  8  2  4  8  .240  .298  .316  .614   81           
    7 Jim Abbott           144   15 1992  24 CAL AL  29 29  7   0  0  7  .318  0 211   208  73  65  68 130   2.77 12  874  790 28  2   3   4   8   4  22  14 13  1  0  2  .263  .323  .349  .672   88           
    8 Nolan Ryan           142   16 1987  40 HOU NL  34 34  0   0  0  8  .333  0 211.2 154  75  65  87 270   2.76 14  873  771 23  3   2   4   9   1   6  45  7  0  2 10  .200  .284  .292  .576   60           
    9 Bert Blyleven        142   17 1974  23 MIN AL  37 37 19   3  0 17  .500  0 281   244  99  83  77 249   2.66 14 1149 1045 34  7   3   9  13   5  22  26 17  2  0  3  .233  .290  .320  .610   72           
   10 Phil Niekro          142   18 1978  39 ATL NL  44 42 22   4  1 19  .514  1 334.1 295 129 107 102 248   2.88 16 1389 1254 42 10   5  13  13   6  13  34 12  4  3 11  .235  .298  .323  .621   71           
   11 Nolan Ryan           141   16 1977  30 CAL AL  37 37 22   4  0 19  .543  0 299   198 110  92 204 341   2.77 12 1272 1027 23  3   7   9  22  10  21  43 19  7  3 21  .193  .329  .256  .585   64           
   12 Melido Perez         138   16 1992  26 NYY AL  33 33 10   1  0 13  .448  0 247.2 212  94  79  93 218   2.87 16 1013  901 33  3   5   5   6   8  19  18 18  9  0 13  .235  .308  .332  .640   79           
   13 Bert Blyleven        134   16 1985  34 TOT AL  37 37 24   5  0 17  .515  0 293.2 264 121 103  75 206   3.16 23 1203 1106 45  6   1   9   5   8  21  34 14  1  1  4  .239  .290  .353  .643   74           
   14 Fergie Jenkins       131   16 1970  27 CHC NL  40 39 24   3  1 22  .579  0 313   265 128 118  60 274   3.39 30 1265 1185 51 13   6   7   6   7  10  13  8  0  0  9  .224  .264  .365  .629   65           
   15 Jim Clancy           131   16 1980  24 TOR AL  34 34 15   2  0 13  .448  0 250.2 217 108  92 128 152   3.30 19 1075  932 29  3   4   2   9   4  18   9 10  0  0 10  .233  .326  .332  .658   77           
   16 Rick Reuschel        131   15 1973  24 CHC NL  36 36  7   3  0 14  .483  0 237   244  95  79  62 168   3.00 15 1003  929 36  4   6   5   5   2  18  16 11  3  1 10  .263  .312  .358  .670   86           
   17 Matt Young           131   15 1983  24 SEA AL  33 32  5   2  0 11  .423  0 203.2 178  86  74  79 130   3.27 17  851  753 35  5   2   7   4   8  15  14  8  2  2  4  .236  .312  .364  .676   83           
   18 Orel Hershiser       131   16 1987  28 LAD NL  37 35 10   1  2 16  .500  1 264.2 247 105  90  74 190   3.06 17 1093 1000 40  7   5   9   8   2  30  12  9  1  2 11  .247  .304  .352  .656   81           
   19 Brandon Webb         129   16 2004  25 ARI NL  35 35  1   0  0  7  .304  0 208   194 111  83 119 164   3.59 17  933  783 31  5  11  11  14   6  24  31 10  3  1 17  .248  .353  .365  .718   87 3438 2030 
   20 Charlie Hough        128   16 1985  37 TEX AL  34 34 14   1  0 14  .467  0 250.1 198 102  92  83 141   3.31 23 1018  920 36  4   1   7   1   7  20  18  7  3  3 11  .215  .283  .338  .621   69           
   21 Jerry Koosman        128   15 1973  30 NYM NL  35 35 12   3  0 14  .483  0 263   234  93  83  76 156   2.84 18 1071  965 38  5   6   4  19   6  25  10 10  4  0  3  .242  .299  .348  .647   85           
   22 Frank Tanana         128   15 1984  30 TEX AL  35 35  9   1  0 15  .500  0 246.1 234 117  89  81 141   3.25 30 1054  956 37  9   3   6   6   5  14  14  5  1  4 12  .245  .306  .396  .702   91           
   23 Nolan Ryan           128   16 1972  25 CAL AL  39 39 20   9  0 19  .543  0 284   166  80  72 157 329   2.28 14 1154  973 25  3   4  10  11   3  17  40  9  1  0 18  .171  .291  .246  .537   70           
   24 Wilbur Wood          126   17 1972  30 CHW AL  49 49 20   8  0 24  .585  0 376.2 325 119 105  74 193   2.51 28 1490 1384 50  8   5   7  21   4  33  20 18 12  0 11  .235  .276  .343  .619   87           
   25 Livan Hernandez      126   15 2004  29 MON NL  35 35  9   2  0 11  .423  0 255   234 105 102  83 186   3.60 26 1053  945 46  4   9  10  11   4  22  16  9  2  0  1  .248  .314  .387  .701   81 3919 2434 
   26 Bert Blyleven        126   15 1971  20 MIN AL  38 38 17   5  0 16  .516  0 278.1 267  95  87  59 224   2.81 21 1126 1047 39  5   1   5  12   3  25  13 12  3  1  5  .255  .297  .362  .659   90           
   27 Bert Blyleven        125   16 1976  25 TOT AL  36 36 18   6  0 13  .448  0 297.2 283 106  95  81 219   2.87 14 1225 1108 33 10   6  12  18   6  35  34 11  0  2  7  .255  .312  .341  .653   89           
   28 Moose Haas           125   15 1980  24 MIL AL  33 33 14   3  0 16  .516  0 252.1 246  96  87  56 146   3.10 25 1023  954 33  9   6   1   3   9  25  17 11  2  1  5  .258  .297  .390  .687   89           
   29 Mike Mussina         125   15 2000  31 BAL AL  34 34  6   1  0 11  .423  0 237.2 236 105 100  46 210   3.79 28  987  924 47  3   0   3   8   6  19  16  3  0  0  3  .255  .291  .404  .695   78 3694 2444 

29 such seasons, and Bert Blyleven has 5 of them!!!

Nolan Ryan is on here 3 times, Hershiser twice, and nobody else more than once.

If Blyleven doesn't get into the Hall of Fame...then I am going to have to really amp of the campaign for next year.

One Response to “Best ERA+ for a pitcher with at least 15 losses, 1970-2007”

  1. #295 Bert Blyleven | Baseball Card Blogs Says:

    [...] stat: I’ve written tons about Blyleven over at the Stat of the Day blog. Check it out here, here, here, here, and [...]