- Adjusted ERA+
Adjusted ERA+, often simply abbreviated to ERA+, is a statistic in
baseball . It adjusts apitcher 's ERA according to the pitcher'sballpark (does it favor batters or pitchers) and the ERA of the pitcher's league. Average is set to be 100; a score above 100 indicates the pitcher performed better than average, below 100 indicates worse than average.For instance, if the average ERA in the league is 4.00, and the pitcher is pitching in a ballpark that favors hitters, and his ERA is 4.00, then his ERA+ will be over 100. However, if the average ERA in the league is 3.00, and the pitcher is pitching in a ballpark favoring pitchers, and the pitcher's ERA is 3.50, then the pitcher's ERA+ will be (significantly) below 100.
As a result, ERA+ is a good way of comparing pitchers' performances across different run environments. In the above example, the first pitcher has performed better than the second pitcher, but his ERA is higher. ERA+ corrects this misleading impression.
Pedro Martínez holds the modern record for highest ERA+ in a single season; he posted a 1.74 ERA in the2000 American League , which had an average ERA of 4.91, which gave Martinez an ERA+ of 285. WhileBob Gibson has the lowest ERA in modern times (1.12 in the1968 National League ) the average ERA was 2.99 that year (the so-called Year of the Pitcher) and so Gibson's ERA+ is 258, still highly impressive, but only sixth since 1900.The career record for ERA+ (with a minimum of 1,000 innings pitched) is held by closer
Mariano Rivera , who has a career ERA+ of 199. The career record ERA+ amongst retired players is 148, held byLefty Grove .Walter Johnson ,Dan Quisenberry ,Hoyt Wilhelm andSmokey Joe Wood are tied in third place with a career ERA+ of 146.Leaders
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:98%;"
+Single Season Leaders!Rank !!Player !!Adjusted ERA+ !!Year !!Team
-!1Tim Keefe ||align="center"|294 ||1880 ||Troy Trojans
-!2Pedro Martínez ||align="center"|285 ||2000 ||Boston Red Sox
-!3
Dutch Leonard ||align="center"|279 ||1914 ||Boston Red Sox
-!4Greg Maddux ||align="center"|273 ||1994 ||Atlanta Braves
-!rowspan=2|5Walter Johnson ||align="center" rowspan=2|259 ||1913 ||Washington Senators
-Greg Maddux ||1995 ||Atlanta Braves
-!7Bob Gibson ||align="center"|258 ||1968 ||St. Louis Cardinals
-!8Mordecai Brown ||align="center"|253 ||1906 ||Chicago Cubs
-!9Pedro Martínez ||align="center"|245 ||1999 ||Boston Red Sox
-!10Walter Johnson ||align="center"|240 ||1912 ||Washington Senators
-!11Christy Mathewson ||align="center"|230 ||1905 ||New York Giants
-!rowspan=2| 12Roger Clemens ||align="center" rowspan=2|226 ||1997 ||Toronto Blue Jays
-Dwight Gooden ||1985 ||New York Mets
-!14
Grover Cleveland Alexander ||align="center"|225 ||1915 ||Philadelphia Phillies
-!15Christy Mathewson ||align="center"|222 ||1909 ||New York Giants
-!rowspan=2| 16Roger Clemens ||align="center" rowspan=2|221 ||2005 ||Houston Astros
-Pedro Martínez ||1997 ||Montreal Expos
-!18Lefty Grove ||align="center"|219 ||1931 ||Philadelphia Athletics
-!rowspan=2| 19Jack Pfiester ||align="center"|216 ||1907 ||Chicago Cubs
-Cy Young ||align="center"|216 ||1901 ||Boston Americans
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