The real career ERA leader for the Seattle Mariners

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OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 01: James Paxton #65 of the Seattle Mariners pitches against the Oakland Athletics in the bottom of the first inning at Oakland Alameda Coliseum on September 1, 2018 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /

#4: James Paxton: Innings Pitched: 583.2, Earned Runs: 222, 3.423187 ERA

It was Paxton, but his lone start in 2021, he went 1.1 innings and gave up one run. This right here, this proves how insanely close this list is. Before he walked to the mound that day, Paxton had the best ERA in team history at 3.41557. When he left the mound that day after his injury, he was now 4th all-time with an ERA of 3.423187.

One scoreless inning. That’s all it would take for Paxton to jump back to first place with the Mariners. One out and he would go to third, two outs and he would stay put at third, and getting a third and final out would jump him past second and back into first. Hundreds of innings, even thousands for some of these pitchers, and it all comes down to a single out.

If that’s not baseball, then I don’t know what to tell you.

Of players to come through Seattle, Paxton has to be up near the top for players I really wanted to see stick around and stay healthy. He seemed like a great guy, was a lot of fun to watch, and could talk to birds.

He’s actually the Mariners career leader in FIP with a 3.13, T-2nd in adjusted ERA+ at 117, 2nd in WHIP, and 2nd in K/9. He was so close to becoming the team leader in ERA, but unless something changes and he comes back after being in Boston, Paxton will go down as 4th in ERA in the history of the Mariners.

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