Strat-O-Matic Baseball 365

So I've been thinking about nominating 1988 Joe Magrane to have his card added to ATG. His numbers for that season are below:

1988 Joe Magrane, Cardinals, LHSP 5-9 2.18 1.113 Hard luck Magrane led N.L. in ERA. Career bests in ERA, WHIP & H9. Just 1 ATG card.
https://365.strat-o-matic.com/player/37390/1690/1/90

So it got me wondering if 5 wins was the lowest ever for a pitcher who won the league ERA title. So I did a Google search, which led me to the article at the link below:

https://www.mlb.com/news/fewest-wins-by ... c289408018

The article confirmed my suspicion that Magrane indeed had the fewest wins in a season ever in the modern era for a league ERA leader, but he was far from alone in being an ERA leader with just a handful of wins. Per the article, below are the 13 league ERA leaders who collected the fewest wins in a season in baseball's modern era. This list includes regular starting pitchers only -- those who started at least 75 percent of the games they pitched in the relevant seasons -- and includes full seasons only (not, for example, the strike-shortened 1981 and '94 seasons, or the abbreviated 2020 Covid season). To qualify for the ERA title, a pitcher must average at least one inning pitched per team game for the season. Pitchers marked with an asterisk (*) led the Majors in ERA, not just their own league.

1 Joe Magrane*, Cardinals, 1988: Five wins; Season stats: 5-9, 2.18 ERA

2 (tie). Nolan Ryan, Astros, 1987: Eight wins; Season stats: 8-16, 2.76 ERA

2 (tie). Ed Siever, Tigers, 1902: Eight wins; Season stats: 8-11, 1.91 ERA

2 (tie). Rube Waddell*, Pirates, 1900: Eight wins; Season stats: 8-13, 2.37 ERA

5 (tie). Kevin Millwood, Indians, 2005: Nine wins; Season stats: 9-11, 2.86 ERA

5 (tie). Craig Swan, Mets, 1978: Nine wins; Season stats: 9-6, 2.43 ERA

7 (tie). Jacob deGrom, Mets, 2018: 10 wins; Season stats: 10-9, 1.70 ERA

7 (tie). Atlee Hammaker*, Giants, 1983: 10 wins; Season stats: 10-9, 2.25 ERA

7 (tie). Dick Donovan*, Senators, 1961: 10 wins; Season stats: 10-10, 2.40 ERA

9 (tie). Josh Johnson, Marlins, 2010: 11 wins; Season stats: 11-6, 2.30 ERA

9 (tie). Juan Guzman, Blue Jays, 1996: 11 wins; Season stats: 11-8, 2.93 ERA

9 (tie). John Denny, Cardinals, 1976: 11 wins; Season stats: 11-9, 2.52 ERA

9 (tie). Phil Douglas, Giants, 1922: 11 wins; Season stats: 11-4, 2.63 ERA

ERA LEADERS BY LOWEST WINNING PERCENTAGE
With the same criteria -- qualified starting pitchers in a full season -- here's a quick list of the 10 league ERA champions with the lowest winning percentage in the modern era.

1. Nolan Ryan, Astros, 1987: .333 (8-16, 2.76 ERA)

2. Joe Magrane*, Cardinals, 1988: .357 (5-9, 2.18 ERA)

3. Rube Waddell*, Pirates, 1900: .381 (8-13, 2.37 ERA)

4. Ed Siever, Tigers, 1902: .421 (8-11, 1.91 ERA)

5. Kevin Millwood, Indians, 2005: .450 (9-11, 2.86 ERA)

6. Dolf Luque*, Reds, 1925: .471 (16-18, 2.63 ERA)

7. Ed Walsh*, White Sox, 1910: .474 (18-20, 1.27 ERA)

8. Stan Coveleski, Indians, 1923: .481 (13-14, 2.76 ERA)

9. Dick Donovan*, Senators, 1961: .500 (10-10, 2.40 ERA)

10. Dave Stieb, Blue Jays, 1985: .519 (14-13, 2.48 ERA)

really interesting stuff

Many of these pitchers and their league leading ERA seasons are good candidates to be added to the ATG9 card set.

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/jacob-degro ... you-think/


An interesting article on Jacob Degrom and his struggles with getting into the win column.

Poor Ed Walsh 18-20 with a 1.27 era! I wonder what his run support was?