Dodgers Team News

Dodgers News: Julio Urías Wins ‘Really Special’ NL ERA Title

Julio Urías capped an outstanding 2022 season off on Tuesday by allowing two runs in five innings, settling his season-ending ERA at a remarkable 2.16, easily good enough to earn him his first ERA title.

Urías is right — it is really special. This is the eighth time in the last 12 years a Dodger has led the National League in ERA, and Julio is the fourth different L.A. pitcher to accomplish the feat in the last eight seasons (along with Zack Greinke in 2015, Clayton Kershaw in 2017, and Hyun Jin Ryu in 2019). It’s actually the eighth time in the last 12 seasons a Dodger led the league, with Kershaw claiming the four titles leading up to Greinke’s win in 2015. That had had just one ERA title in the 26 years before that.

Urías is also the first pitcher from Mexico to win an ERA title. Surprisingly, Fernando Valenzuela never came very close, finishing seventh in the NL in his Cy Young season in 1981 and topping out at fifth the next season.

Julio is quite proud of his heritage, so it’s undoubtedly meaningful for him to do something no Mexican-born pitcher has ever done.

Unfortunately, the ERA title probably won’t be enough to earn Urías the Cy Young Award, with Sandy Alcantara finishing second in the ERA race and throwing 50+ more innings than Julio. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts knows who he’d vote for, though.

Cy Young votes will be cast this week, but we won’t find out the winners until mid-November. Between now and then, the Dodgers have one other item of business to take care of: go win the World Series. And Urías is their ace heading into that endeavor.

Have you subscribed to our YouTube Channel yet? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, live streams, and more!

Jeff Snider

Jeff was born into a Dodgers family in Southern California and is now raising a Dodgers family of his own in Utah. During his previous career as an executive at a technology company, he began writing about baseball in his spare time. After leaving corporate America in 2014, he started doing it professionally. Jeff wrote and edited for Baseball Essential for years before joining Dodgers Nation. He's also the co-host of the Locked On Dodgers podcast, a daily podcast that brings the smart fan's perspective on our Boys in Blue. Jeff has a degree in English from Brigham Young University. Favorite Player: Clayton Kershaw Favorite Moment: Kirk Gibson's homer will always have a place, but Kershaw's homer on Opening Day 2013 might be the winner.

One Comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button