List of Major League Baseball annual ERA leaders

In baseball, earned run average (ERA) is a statistic used to evaluate pitchers, calculated as the mean of earned runs given up by a pitcher per nine innings pitched. A pitcher is assessed an earned run for each run scored by a baserunner who reached base while batting against that pitcher, whether by hit, base on balls or "walk", or being hit by a pitched ball; an earned run can be charged after the pitcher is relieved if he allows the runner before leaving the game. Runs scored by players who reach base on errors, passed balls, or catcher interference under special circumstances are treated as unearned runs, and do not count towards the pitcher's ERA.

Major League Baseball recognizes the player in each league with the lowest earned run average each season. The first ERA champion in the National League was George Bradley; in the National League's inaugural 1876 season, Bradley posted a 1.23 ERA for the St. Louis Brown Stockings, allowing 78 earned runs in 573 innings pitched. The American League was established in 1901, and Hall of Fame pitcher Cy Young led that league with a 1.62 ERA for the Boston Americans during the 1901 season.

Over the course of his 17-year major league career, Lefty Grove led the American League in ERA nine times, with a career single-season low of 2.06 for the 1931 Philadelphia Athletics.Roger Clemens has won the second-most ERA titles, capturing six in the American League and one in the National League.Sandy Koufax led the National League in ERA for five consecutive seasons (1962–1966); Koufax' five awards are the most won consecutively by any player and are tied for the most awards in by a player in the National League with Christy Mathewson. In the American League, Walter Johnson also won five ERA titles, and Pedro Martínez has won a total of five (four American League and one National League) with two different teams.

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