Julio Urías wins National League ERA title

Oct 5, 2022 - 4:01 AM

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Julio Urías put the finishing touches on a second consecutive superb season for the Dodgers, locking up the National League ERA title in the process.

Urías allowed two runs in his five innings on Tuesday against the Rockies, ending his season with a 2.16 ERA in 175 innings, ensuring he will finish atop the NL once the season concludes on Wednesday.

Atlanta’s Max Fried is the only pitcher in the top five who might pitch on Wednesday, but even if he does the left-hander would need 27⅓ scoreless innings to best Urías.

Urías was also tied for second in xERA (2.74) entering Tuesday.

This is the 16th time a Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher led the National League in earned run average. Sandy Koufax and Clayton Kershaw did it five times each, and Urías is the sixth pitcher to have done so once, along with Don Sutton, Alejandro Peña, Kevin Brown, Zack Greinke, and Hyun-jin Ryu.

Of those 16 ERA-leading seasons, ten have also led in ERA+, which adjusts for ballpark and league. Urías ended his season atop the National League with a 193 ERA+, fourth-best in Dodgers franchise history, behind only Greinke’s 222 ERA+ in 2015 and two Kershaw seasons (2013-14).

Orel Hershiser is the only other LA Dodgers pitcher to lead the league in ERA+ while not atop the ERA list. Oddly enough, it wasn’t in 1988, when Hershiser ended the regular season with 59 scoreless innings. The next year, Hershiser’s 2.31 ERA was second to Scott Garrelts, but his 149 ERA+ paced the NL. Sal Maglie pulled the trick for Brooklyn in 1956, when The Barber finished fourth with a 2.87 ERA but topped the league with his 139 ERA+.

Finishing kick

The only runs against Urías on Tuesday were two solo home runs. He allowed 23 homers on the season, but the last nine have all been with nobody on base. In his last 14 starts, Urías allowed a total of 14 runs, nine of which came on solo home runs.

In his final 19 regular season starts this year, Urías allowed a total of 25 runs, putting up a 1.79 ERA with 110 strikeouts and 26 walks.

From July 16 on, Urías was even better. Entering play that night against the Angels, Urías had a 3.01 ERA after allowing five runs in two innings at home to the Cubs in his previous start. Thirteen National League pitchers had a better ERA than Urías on that day.

But thanks to an absurd 1.27 ERA over his final 14 starts, Julio Urías stands alone at the top.