As the baseball season heads into the home stretch there’s been a lot of talk about which teams have the best chance to win the World Series, but there hasn’t been a lot of talk about who might win what award. Earlier in the week I did see a pole on who might win the MVP award in each league, but there was nothing about the other three big awards; so I thought we could take a look at those.
The National League Cy Young has quite a few contenders for it right now, but I’m going to try and cut it down to the Top 5.
Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets is going to get some well deserved votes, but I don’t think he’ll get enough to win the award. In 22 starts deGrom is just 5-7, but has an ERA of 1.85 over 146 1/3rd innings. He has 173 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.97.
Aaron Nola has had a breakout year for the Philadelphia Phillies. Nola is 12-3 in 22 starts with an ERA of 2.35 over 142 innings. Nola has recorded 142 strikeouts and has a WHIP of 0.97. I don’t think Nola will win the Cy Young, but I’ll be interested to see where he finishes in the voting.
After spending the past three seasons pitching in Japan Miles Mikolas was signed by the St. Louis Cardinals and so far the move has paid off. Mikolas is 11-3 in 22 starts with an ERA of 2.75 over 137 1/3rd innings. Mikolas isn’t overpowering like some pitches on this list as he has just 97 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.08. So far it’s been an impressive return for Mikolas, but I don’t think he’s winning the Cy Young.
Zack Greinke is having a good season for the Arizona Diamondbacks as he is 12-6 in 23 starts with an ERA of 2.96 over 142 2/3rd innings. Greinke has struck out 148 hitters and has a WHIP of 1.04. Greinke is having a good season, but I think he’s going to come up a little short in the Cy Young voting.
Right now my Cy Young award winner is Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals. Scherzer is 15-5 in 23 starts with an ERA of 2.33 over 154 2/3rd innings. Scherzer has 210 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.91. This would be Scherzer’s 3rd NL Cy Young in a row and his 4th overall.
Just outside the Top 5 pitchers like Jon Lester, Sean Newcomb and maybe even Zach Godley have a chance to move up in the voting over the final two months of the season.
Over in the American League there are quite a few Cy Young contenders; so cutting it down to just a Top 5 was more difficult than I thought, but here’s what I came up with.
Last week I would’ve given this award to Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox, but with his recent trip to the disabled list I think he’s going to fall just short again. Sale is 11-4 with an 2.04 ERA in 22 starts covering 141 innings. He has struck out 207 hitters and has a WHIP of 0.87.
Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays is 12-5 with an ERA of 2.27 in 20 starts covering 119 innings. Snell has a WHIP of 1.07 and has struck out 134 batters. Snell returns from the disabled list tomorrow from Tampa Bay. It’s been a good year for Snell and while he’ll get some Cy Young votes his numbers don’t match up with the other contenders.
Justin Verlander has had a resurgence since being traded to the Houston Astros. He is 11-6 in 24 starts over 156 1/3rd innings with an ERA of 2.19. Verlander has a very good chance to pick up his 2nd career Cy Young award. Verlander has 204 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.88, but I think the problem is going to be that there are three Astros starters that are having good seasons and it looks as though they may cancel each other out.
Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians won his 2nd career Cy Young award last season and he’s in the running for the award again this season. Kluber is 13-6 in 22 starts with an ERA of 2.79 over 145 innings. Kluber has 139 strikeouts and a WHIP of 0.94. Kluber is in a situation like Verlander. The Indians have another starter who has put up good numbers and that might hurt Kluber in the voting.
I think that Luis Severino of the New York Yankees is going to be the last guy standing in the end and will take home his 1st career Cy young award. Severino is 14-5 with an ERA of 3.08 in 23 starts covering 143 1/3rd innings. He has struck out 159 hitters and has a WHIP of 1.11. The voting should be close, but I think that Severino will sneak away with the award.
There are other pitcher who will get some votes and could improve their position over the final two moths of the season. Astros Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton are going to compete with Verlander for Cy Young votes just like Trevor Bauer of the Indians will compete with Kluber for votes. Rick Porcello of the Red Sox picked up a Cy Young award in 2016 while picking up 22 wins. He looks like he’s going to be a 20 game winner again; so he’ll get some votes as well.
Now there is almost two full months of baseball left to play; so there will be pitchers that step up and show they’re a contender for the Cy Young and then their will ne pitchers that fade down the stretch.
As of right now both races are very tight, but I’m going with Scherzer in the NL and Severino in the AL. Who do you have? Leave your pick in the comments.
I mentioned at the start of this blog that there was a poll for MVP done earlier in the week. Freddie Freeman of the Atlanta Braves won a very close vote over Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies. Both guys are having good seasons and their team are in playoff contention; so I can understand that voting. What really confused me was the American League voting. Out of 30 voters Mike Trout got 25 of the 1st place votes.
I’m guessing these voters just picked Trout out of muscle memory. Trout is having a good season and deserves to get some MVP consideration. Trout’s team the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have fallen out of playoff contention which seems to affect every other player when it comes to MVP votes, but Trout has been immune to it. I’m under the impression that these voters just forgot to look at the season Mookie Betts is having for the team with the best record in base the Red Sox.
I’m very confused by this; so I’m hoping someone can help me out with this. Please leave me a comment and let me know if I’m off on the Mike Trout MVP debate.
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