Seen as an exceptionally impressive feat, only a handful of pitchers have registered a sub-2.00 ERA since the turn of the century.
With the calendar flipped to September and focus locked in on the upcoming postseason, debates regarding the MVP and Cy Young Awards are also in full-swing – with multiple worthy contenders in the National League.
Chief among them is Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, who still holds an MLB-best 1.97 ERA even after getting tagged for five earned runs in a four-inning outing this week against the Chicago Cubs.
While a sub-2.00 ERA is more in question now for Misiorowski, the flame-throwing righty has spent the majority of the season below the mark, entering Wednesday’s start with a 1.73 ERA in a season that has seen his ERA fall to as low as 1.34 on June 12.
Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sánchez and future Hall of Famer Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves are also both in the mix for the NL Cy Young Award, with Sale’s season ERA hovering just above 2 at 2.06 – making it unlikely that Sale finishes the season below the mark.
An old-time statistic that is still valued to an extent in the days of advanced metrics, there have been some long-held standards surrounding ERA regardless of the era of baseball being discussed. An ERA in the 4s is generally seen as serviceable, but not great – while an ERA in the 3s ranges anywhere from very reliable to a perennial All-Star.
Starting pitchers that are able to spend most of their careers posting seasons with ERAs in the 2s are likely to be in the conversation to head to Cooperstown one day – an ERA low enough that no matter what era of baseball it is, the starting pitcher is undoubtedly giving his team a chance to win the game on that given day.
But an ERA below 2.00? That’s special – the kind of season that goes down as the magnum opus of a Hall of Famer’s career while being revered and remembered by fans and media members for generations to come.
Since the 2000 season, a qualified starting pitcher (162 innings pitched or more) has finished the season with a sub-2.00 ERA on just 10 occasions – with Paul Skenes being the most recent pitcher to accomplish the feat with a 1.97 ERA in 2025.
Of those 10 seasons, eight were punctuated with a Cy Young Award – speaking to the rarity and spectacular nature of the feat that is far from a guarantee to be achieved in any given season. Clayton Kershaw’s 2014 campaign marked the only instance of a player also winning a league MVP award in a sub-2.00 ERA season.
Below is a list of the 10 sub-2.00 ERA seasons across MLB from starting pitchers since 2000, alongside other basic statistics. This list does not include sub-2.00 ERA showings from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, as no pitcher was able to reach the qualified innings threshold of a typical season.
Cy Young Award-winning seasons are bolded, while Kershaw’s 2014 MVP season is bolded and italicized.
- 2000 Pedro Martínez, Boston Red Sox: 1.74 ERA, 11.7 WAR, 18-6, 217 IP, 32 BB, 284 K
- 2005 Roger Clemens, Houston Astros: 1.87 ERA, 7.8 WAR, 211.1 IP, 13-8, 62 BB, 185 K
- 2013 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers: 1.83 ERA, 8.1 WAR, 16-9, 236 IP, 52 BB, 232 K
- 2014 Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers: 1.77 ERA, 7.7 WAR, 21-3, 198.1 IP, 31 BB, 239 K
- 2015 Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers: 1.66 ERA, 8.9 WAR, 19-3, 222.2 IP, 40 BB, 200 K
- 2015 Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs: 1.77 ERA, 8.3 WAR, 22-6, 229 IP, 48 BB, 236 K
- 2018 Jacob deGrom, New York Mets: 1.70 ERA, 9.4 WAR, 10-9, 217 IP, 46 BB, 269 K
- 2018 Blake Snell, Tampa Bay Rays: 1.89 ERA, 7.1 WAR, 21-5, 180.2 IP, 64 BB, 221 K
- 2022 Justin Verlander, Houston Astros: 1.75 ERA, 5.6 WAR, 18-4, 175 IP, 29 BB, 185 K
- 2025 Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates: 1.97 ERA, 8.0 WAR, 10-10, 187.2 IP, 42 BB, 216 K
Leave a Reply