The 2018 Major League Baseball season has come to an end. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series two weeks ago. It is now time for the major awards: Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young Award, and Most Valuable Player.
On Wednesday, the National League Cy Young Award will be announced. The finalists in the National League are New York Met Jacob deGrom, Washington National Max Scherzer, and Philadelphia Phillie Aaron Nola.
Jacob deGrom
10-9, 1.70 ERA, 269 K
deGrom is the poster child for why wins is not a good barometer for a pitcher’s success. He led all of baseball with a 1.70 ERA (Aaron Nola was second in the NL at 2.37) and was second in the NL with a 0.912 WHIP (Max Scherzer led with 0.911), yet he finished with just 10 wins. deGrom had 21 games where he gave up 1 earned run or fewer, but he was only 9-2 with 10 no decisions in those games.
deGrom was the 2014 NL Rookie of the Year and made his second All-Star team this year.
Max Scherzer
18-7, 2.53 ERA, 300 K
Scherzer led the National League with 18 wins, 300 strikeouts, 0.911 WHIP, 220.2 innings pitched, 2 complete games, 1 shutout, and 12.2 strikeouts per 9 innings. He is the first right hander to record 300 strikeouts in a season since 2002, and only the 17th pitcher ever to achieve that feat. Scherzer got the starting nod in the All-Star game, giving up a solo home run and striking out 4 in 2 innings.
Scherzer is a 6-time All-Star and is the 2-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner.
Aaron Nola
17-6, 2.37 ERA, 224 K
Nola finished in the top 5 in the NL in wins, ERA, and strikeouts. He had a Major League best 10.5 WAR for pitchers. Nola anchored a surprising Phillies team that was in first place as late as August 12. He pitched a scoreless inning while striking out 2 in his first All-Star appearance this season.
Nola is a 1-time All-Star who just finished the most successful of his four Major League seasons.
Who Will Win?
deGrom was the most hard luck pitcher, but Scherzer was the most dominant pitcher in the National League this season. Scherzer will win his third straight Cy Young Award.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.