By Jordan Long
MLB announced their Cy Young Award winners in both leagues. In the American League, Justin Verlander took home the award. In the National League Sandy Alcantara became the first pitcher in Miami Marlins’ history to win the award.
Verlander was undoubtedly one of the top pitchers in Major League Baseball this season. He went an impressive 18-4. The 18 wins were the most in the American League and 2nd in all of baseball. Kyle Wright who pitches for the Atlanta Braves finished the season with 21 wins.
Besides Verlander’s wins, the reason he won the Cy Young was his ERA. Verlander didn’t allow many runs when he pitched. Sure, he let traffic on the base paths with walks and opponents would also smack base hits. When runners were on though, it was very difficult to have the timely hit on him to score runs. Verlander induced ground balls which may equal double plays, line drives, or fly outs to end innings. He led Major League Baseball with a 1.75 ERA.
Verlander deserves the award. His play proved he was the best pitcher in the American League in the regular season. His pitching helped the Houston Astros go an American League best 106-56. Of course, the Astros went all the way to win the World Series.
According to ESPN.com, Verlander said, “I will always kind of remember this Cy Young as looking back at the growth of me as a father and as a person and just also the rehab and all the hard work that went into the rehab, and just how much I was committed to, ‘It was going to go well, and I was going to come back and be me.’ Positive affirmations only take people so far, obviously, so to actually have it happen I think will just be something that I’ll always remember.”
In the National League Alcantara was the winner. He posted a 14-9 record. The 14 wins were 9th in the National League. The pitcher with the most wins in the National League was Kyle Wright who was an outstanding 21-5. If the voters went by wins, then Wright should have been the winner.
When it came to ERA Alcantara was 2nd in the National League in that category. Julio Urias ERA ended at 2.16 while Alcantara’s was 2.28. Looking at that, the top pitcher in the National League was Urias since he didn’t give up that many runs. When it came to striking batters out Alcantara struck 207, 4th in the National League.
It is really perplexing how Alcantara was voted the Cy Young winner. He wasn’t even the top pitcher in many major categories. The only reason voters might have voted for him is because he had the most innings pitched in Major League baseball at 228.2 innings this season. Even so, the award should be based on his body of work. His body of work didn’t equal winning the Cy Young. Either way he still won the award even Alcantara though might not be as deserving as other pitchers.
Leave a Reply