Would you vote for Jacob deGrom over Kyle Freeland for the Cy Young Award?

Here in Denver, we love Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland. He is Colorado’s ace. But everywhere else in the country, Freeland gets no love. What’s up with that? I keep hearing Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets could win the Cy Young Award in the National League, despite going into action Tuesday night with an 88 record. Does it make any sense that deGrom is getting major props, while Freeland is getting ignored by your baseball media brethren? Saunders: Kiz, you set me up with a hanging curveball, so here comes the home run swing: The national media love to trash Rockies hitters for putting up gaudy numbers at Coors Field, but when Freeland spins a 2.21 ERA in LoDo, he’s largely ignored. Sure, national folks are beginning to pipe up now, but it’s an afterthought. A 2.21 ERA at Coors Field is like a 1.12 ERA at Dodger Stadium. That’s how good Freeland has been.

We like to gripe about three things in Colorado: 1) Traffic snarled on Interstate 25; 2) Texans clogging our ski slopes; and 3) East Coast bias against our sports teams. But I must admit deGrom is the best pitcher I’ve seen work in the NL during 2018. His earned run average evokes Bob Gibson, even if his wonlost record brings back memories of Joe Niekro. As much as I love Freeland, my firstplace vote would go to deGrom. Good thing your baseball media brethren in Denver don’t let me anywhere near a ballot. Saunders: Kiz, I have an MVP ballot, not a Cy Young ballot, but I think I’d vote for the Nationals’ Max Scherzer. This year’s NL Cy Young race is tighter than umpire Alfonso Marquez’s strike zone. The Mets are terrible, but deGrom’s 1.68 ERA is amazing. Washington is the most disappointing team in baseball, but Scherzer has an incredible 0.88 WHIP and leads the NL with 277 strikeouts. He has tossed doubledigit K’s 16 times! Aaron Nola, the Phillies’ young phenom, has a 9.3 WAR. There are good arguments for each. Kiz: Everywhere I look, the top three candidates for the Cy Young are deGrom, Scherzer and Nola. All are outstanding pitchers. None of them have to work regularly in the thin air of Coors Field. And the Mets, Nationals and Phillies won’t make the playoffs. In the MVP voting, hitters receive bonus points for helping a team to postseason contention. I know Freeland won’t win the Cy Young, but can he do anything to squeeze into the top three?

Freeland is on the record saying he thinks deGrom should be the frontrunner. Let’s face it, Freeland remains a relative unknown, so unless he had a truly historic season, there was no way he was going to get enough votes to climb into the top three. The closest a Rockies pitcher has ever come to winning the Cy Young award was Ubaldo Jimenez, who finished third after his remarkable 2010 season. I think Freeland’s eyes are on the bigger prize: Colorado winning the NL West. If the Rockies do that, he’ll get his due when the national media suddenly “discover” him.