Quote:
Player A comes in with bases loaded and gives up 3 straight singles without getting an out and then is pulled. His relief k's the side.
Player B comes into a game and induces 3 groundouts.
What are Player A and B's era's?
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Obviously, their ERA's are both 0, and player B's WHIP is 0, while the other's is infinite for that inning.
In this case, WHIP is more important than ERA when determining the player's performance. And like I've already stated, WHIP in general is the more telling stat.
ERA is still an important stat however, as situations like you just described are few and far between. Sooner or later if you load the bases, your relief is going to give up those runs and it will affect your ERA in the long run if you keep doing it. So if you are now trying to argue that ERA is practically irrelevant because of one hypothetical situation, thats just silly.
Question for you:
Player A gives up 3 hits in 3 innings, all of them homeruns.
Player B gives up 2 hits and walks 2 batters, but doesnt allow anyone to score in 3 innings.
What is each players WHIP?
The bottom line is, each of us can think of different situations where WHIP or ERA seem to the be the more telling stat. Its not difficult. In your situation WHIP seems like a far more reliable stat, while in my situation ERA seems to tell the story more.
However, in the long run, over the course of a season, ERA and WHIP are both important stats, WHIP with a slight edge to ERA.