Breaking Down The National League Cy Young Race with 358
As the 2021 season continues to wind down, let’s look into the potential names that will be on the Cy Young ballot come the end of the year. There are familiar names that are going to appear on the ballot this year and many will receive media notoriety, but there are new names that will appear for the 1st time after some great seasons.
Who are The Recent Winners in The National League?
Understanding Advanced Stats Used for Major League Pitchers
Who Are The 2021 NL Cy Young Candidates?
Honorable Mentions
Who Are The Frontrunners??
As of now, the names that I just listed could all be considered “front runners” in one way, shape or form. Looking back to the 1st time I fell in love with baseball (2008), I cannot remember the time that either league in MLB had so many names fighting for a Cy Young Award.
If you would’ve asked me this before the 2021 Trade Deadline, I would have told you that Kevin Gausman, Corbin Burnes & Zack Wheeler were among the front runners in the NL Cy Young race. I for one was a big fan of the 3 potentially winning but more so in Gausman & Burnes given their great starts to the 2021 season. Wheeler had some great runs earlier in the season and currently leads the NL in strikeout along with the highest WAR among the options listed. Wheeler was also a big reason why Philadelphia overtook the NL East Lead in early August from the Mets.
Enter Scherzer…prior to being dealt to the Dodgers in July, MadMax was putting up great numbers with the Nationals who at the time, still believed that they could be a contender come the trade deadline. Knowing what we know now, Washington of course fell from grace and ended up pulling off MASSIVE TRADE with the Dodgers, sending BOTH Max Scherzer & Trea Turner to LA. Since then, Scherzer has kept the Dodgers in contention from another NL West Pennant and has slotted himself as LA’s Game 1 Starter as they could potentially end up as the home team come Wild Card time.
So Who Wins???
Reference Page:
MLB FanGraphs
Baseball Reference
MLB.com