The award for best performance by a pitcher in both the American and National Leagues has been announced as Blake Snell was the best pitcher in the American League and Jacob deGrom was the best pitcher in the National League.
Your 2018 AL Cy Young Award winner: Blake Snell. pic.twitter.com/iNlApwxdKe
— MLB (@MLB) November 14, 2018
Straight deGromination.
@jdegrom19 is your 2018 NL Cy Young Award winner. pic.twitter.com/ca9v07uRiT— MLB (@MLB) November 14, 2018
In the American League, the three candidates for the 2018 MLB Cy Young award were Blake Snell from the Tampa Bay Rays, Justin Verlander from the Houston Astros, and Corey Kluber from the Cleveland Indians. In the National League the three candidates for the 2018 MLB Cy Young award were Jacob deGrom from the New York Mets, Max Scherzer from the Washington Nationals, and Aaron Nola from the Philadelphia Phillies.
The American League 2018 MLB Cy Young race was won by Snell, and Snell was a frontrunner with Verlander. Snell finished the 2018 season with a 21-5 record, a 1.89 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 221 strikeouts for the Tampa Bay Rays. Snell was also the pitcher with the highest pitching rating in Wins Above Replacement (WAR). Snell is the first player from the Rays to take home the 2018 MLB Cy Young award since 2012. The other player who was in close competition was Verlander who featured a 16-9 record with an ERA of 2.52, WHIP of .090 while striking out 290 strikeouts for the Astros in the 2018 season.
The National League 2018 MLB Cy Young race was a tight race between deGrom and Scherzer who were the two frontrunners. In 2018 deGrom finished with a 10-9 record, league-best 1.70 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and struck out 269 batters for the Mets. One of the other things too look at when valuing deGrom over Scherzer was the fact that deGrom lead the league in Fielding-Independent Pitching (FIP). FIP is similar to a measurement of an ERA but it only focuses on the events that a pitcher has control over like strikeouts, unintentional walks, hit-by-pitches, and home runs. Runner-up Scherzer finished 18-7 with an ERA of 2.53 with a WHIP of 0.91, and 300 strikeouts during the 2018 season for the Nationals.
With the announcement of the 2018 Rookie and Manager of the Year awards, followed by today’s announcement of the Cy Young Awards is the announcement of the MVP awards which comes out tomorrow.
