MLB announced the winners of the American League and National League Cy Young Awards, and the names won’t surprise you. Especially in AL, which is determined by voting.
Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees won the AL Cy Young Award, and Blake Snell of the San Diego Padres won the NL Cy Young.
Goal was A unanimous winnerWhen Snell took over 30 to 28 votes From the BBWAA voting system, NL finalists Logan Webb of the San Francisco Giants and Jack Galen of the Arizona Diamondbacks received one of the remaining first-place votes.
It’s Cole’s first Cy Young Award, and it’s long overdue. He might have won it in 2019 (he was second behind Justin Verlander), and again in 2021 (he was second behind Robbie Ray, if you can believe it), but almost nothing this time. The game’s highest pitching award is finally his.
It was the Yankees’ first Cy Young winner since Roger Clemens in 2001, and the team’s sixth overall since Clemens, Ron Guidry, Sparky Lyle, Whitey Ford and Bob Turley.
Cole, 33, was one of the lone bright spots on a dismal Yankees team that finished fourth in the AL East, 19 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles. He had a 2.63 ERA over 33 starts and 209 innings, as well as a league-leading two complete game shutouts. He is at or near the top in several pitching stat categories for pitchers, including bWAR (7.4, first), WHIP (0.981, first), nine innings pitched (6.8, third), and innings pitched (209, third). , and strikeouts (222, fifth).
The Yankees have been a complete mess this year, but Cole isn’t even close to being a factor.
In the NL, Snell also pitched for a team that failed to live up to expectations. The Padres and their high-priced payroll were expected to compete in the NL West; Instead they finished 18 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. Like Cole, Cy Young voters didn’t let the team’s ineffectiveness tarnish Snell’s personal accomplishment.
Snell, now a free agent after declining a qualifying offer from the Padres, led all of MLB in ERA at 2.25 and was the only qualifying starter with an ERA under 2.50. He allowed the fewest average hits per nine innings (5.8), second only to Corbin Burns at 6.6. While Snell only pitched 180 innings over 31 starts and averaged 5.6 innings per start (a stark contrast from a guy like Cole, who averaged 6.3 innings per start), his dominance in a traditional stat like ERA put him atop voters. He may not make it past the fifth or sixth inning, but when he pitches, he takes care of business.
It was Snell’s second Cy Young Award and his first in the National League. He picked up his first hit in 2018 when he was with the Tampa Bay Rays. He became the seventh pitcher in MLB history to win the Cy Young in both the AL and NL, joining an impressive group of Max Scherzer, Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Gaylord Perry.
