15 Responses to “Years With Most 15 Game Losers With ERA 5 Or Worse”

1. Mike Says:
   April 4th, 2011 at 3:27 pm

   Not surprised to see so many of the heavy years be during the steroid era. I wonder how it looks on the other side...ie: Decent win total with high ERAs?

2. Mike Says:
   April 4th, 2011 at 3:27 pm

   Especially during that steroid era.

3. Johnny Twisto Says:
   April 4th, 2011 at 3:46 pm

   Of course there are more teams and hence more pitchers now. 1930 had one pitcher for every two teams qualify, whereas 2010 was under 1 per 4 teams.

4. Steve Lombardi Says:
   April 4th, 2011 at 4:03 pm

   Johnny - good point. But, then again, we could say with less teams, many of these type guys would be in the minors and not sniffing the majors.

5. DavidRF Says:
   April 4th, 2011 at 4:21 pm

   Population of the US in 1930 was 123M which is less than half what it is today. Plus MLB was an all-white league with few foreign-born players. I don't know how much of that counteracts the effects of expansion but those are things to consider.

6. Gerry Says:
   April 5th, 2011 at 12:23 am

   In 1936, 6 of the 7 pitchers were in the AL.

7. Gerry Says:
   April 5th, 2011 at 12:31 am

   Actually, the correct answer is not 2007. It may be 1894, when 10 pitchers (Frank Dwyer, Red Ehret, Phil Knell, Willie McGill, Tom Parrott, Jack Wadsworth, Dad Clarkson, Bill Hutchinson, Al Maul, and Mike Sullivan) had 15 or more losses with an ERA of 5 or worse. Wadsworth's ERA was 7.60, and he went 4-18; Dwyer and Ehret lost 21 games each.

   And of course these were all NL pitchers, the only major league in 1894.

8. DavidRF Says:
   April 5th, 2011 at 12:35 am

   @6
   From 1931 until the war, the AL had a significantly higher scoring context. The NL had the Baker Bowl (and perenial cellar dweller Phillies) to help them put guys on a list like this. At least until mid-1938 when the Phillies left the Baker Bowl for Shibe Park.

9. Doug Says:
   April 5th, 2011 at 3:07 am

   What happened in 2009? Only year since 1993 (omitting the '94 strike year) not here?

   Actually, there was one pitcher (Jeremy Guthrie) who qualified in 2009, and four others with 13 losses and ERA over 5.

10. Doug Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 3:24 am

    There are only 14 active pitchers with seasons of 20+ starts and over 30 batters faced per start. Livan Hernandez leads the way, with 4 such seasons. Halladay (in 2009 and 2010) and Jeff Weaver have done it twice each. Everyone else only once.

11. Kevin Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 11:02 am

    So many Orioles' pitchers (or guys who pitched for them in other years) on this list!

12. Lawrence Azrin Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    @4/ Steve Lombardi Says: "Johnny - good point. But, then again, we could say with less teams, many of these type guys would be in the minors and not sniffing the majors."

    Steve, if you are saying that the overall level of pitching was better in (say)1930 than the present, I'm gonna have a hard time buying that. As several people said elsewhere, there are nearly twice as many teams, and the population that baseball draws its talent pool from is vastly larger.

    It would be surprising if there were _not_ more pitchers from the 2000's than the 1920's/1930's.

13. John Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 5:35 pm

    I was really surprised not to see Anthony Young's name among this list. After further review i see that Mr. Young's only year in which he lost 15 games was 1992 when he went 1 - 16 but his ERA was below 5. I remember when Anthony was on that infamous losing streak for the Mets in the early 90's and always wondered how he was still pitching in the Majors !?

14. DoubleDiamond Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 8:33 pm

    I saw Bill Lee's name and immediately pictured the 1970s pitcher whose nickname was "Spaceman", but this one turned out to have accomplished this feat in 1940.

    I saw Craig Anderson's name and knew without even looking that it just had to be 1962. It was.

    I see a few guys who developed into decent pitchers showing up here early in their careers as well as a few who were in the twilight of long, successful careers

    I count three who have done it in 1998 or later who have since died - Darryl Kile, Jose Lima, and Cory Lidle.

15. John Autin Says:
    April 5th, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    Obviously, the event under study is more likely to occur in high-offense eras. But there's also an opportunity bias that pushes the count even more in that direction. To rack up 15 losses, you have to stay in the rotation most of the season. To stay in the rotation with an ERA over 5, you have to seem at least as good as the team's other options. And that's more likely to be the case when overall ERAs are high.

    Of the 79 pitcher-seasons since 1993 that made this list, 14 had an ERA+ of at least 90, which isn't so bad, especially since the average ERA+ for a starting pitcher is usually a few points under 100.