Scherzer, Kluber earn Cy Youngs
Two player styles, one winning result
Max Scherzer heard his name and thrust his arms in the air, shouting and smiling big before turning to kiss his wife. Corey Kluber, on the other hand, gulped once and blinked.
Two aces, two different styles — and now another Cy Young Award for each.
The animated Scherzer of the Washington Nationals coasted to his third Cy Young, winning Wednesday for the second year in a row in the National League. He bested Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, drawing 27 of the 30 first-place votes in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
Kluber’s win was even more of a runaway. The Cleveland Indians ace took 28 first-place votes, easily outpacing Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox for his second AL Cy Young.
Scherzer yelled “yes!” when his award was announced on MLB Network, a reaction in keeping with his expressive reputation. He showed that intensity often this year.
Just a little different than the pitcher they call “Klubot.” Kluber was stoic as ever when announced as the AL winner. He swallowed hard but otherwise didn’t react.
“Winning a second one maybe, for me personally, kind of validates the first one,” Kluber said.
Scherzer’s win moves him into rare company. He’s the 10th pitcher with at least three Cy Youngs, and among the other nine, only Kershaw, Roger Clemens and the late Roy Halladay aren’t in the Hall of Fame — Kershaw and Halladay aren’t yet eligible.
Mariners
Seattle acquired powerhitting infielder Ryon Healy from the Oakland Athletics for right-handed reliever Emilio Pagan and minor league shortstop Alexander Campos. Seattle acquired Healy with the intent that he will be its everyday first baseman going into the 2018 season. “One of the things we joked about internally is just keeping him from doing damage against us probably makes us a better team,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said.
Elsewhere
Major League Baseball hopes to reach a new agreement on a posting system with Japan by early December, a deal that would allow star pitcher-outfielder Shohei Otani to start negotiations with teams. MLB Chief Legal Officer Dan Halem said a new framework has been agreed to with Nippon Professional Baseball and a deal with the players union could happen “maybe within a week.” Halem also hopes to have a separate deal with the players association by mid-January on pace-ofplay changes.