VERLANDER IS RUNNER-UP FOR CY YOUNG AWARD
Snell finishes first despite falling short in innings worked
In a polarizing polling that some suspect will alter the view of the Cy Young Award, Justin Verlander found himself in an all too familiar place.
Despite throwing 331⁄3 fewer innings than Verlander, Rays ace Blake Snell captured the American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday, leaving Verlander in second place for a record-tying third time.
Snell received 17 first-place votes and 169 total points. Verlander finished with 13 first-place nods and 154 points.
Snell’s 1.89 ERA and .554 OPS against were the lowest among any qualified American League starters. His 5.6 hits per nine innings led the league, too.
The numbers proved gaudy enough to overlook the meager workload Snell produced in comparison to his fellow finalists.
Verlander threw 214 innings. Corey Kluber, who finished third, led the American League with 215.
Snell threw 1802⁄3 innings, the fewest ever by a Cy Young Awardwinning starter, a product of his
occasional imprecision and the Rays’ liberal bullpen usage throughout the year. Snell and Clayton Kershaw are the only two starting pitchers to win a Cy Young while not eclipsing 200 innings. Kershaw tossed 1981⁄3 en route to the National League honor in 2014.
Kluber finished 83 points behind Verlander and 98 behind Snell. Houston’s Gerrit Cole finished fifth, one spot behind Boston’s Chris Sale.
Though Snell led American League pitchers in Baseball-Reference’s calculation of wins above replacement, Verlander led by FanGraph’s tabulations. The often unconquerable righthander struck out 290 while yielding 0.902 walks and hits per inning pitched. Both marks were career bests.
Verlander’s 0.902 WHIP was the third lowest in the last 50 years by any American League starter with at least 175 innings pitched.
Verlander allowed the lowest opposing on-base percentage (.242) in the league. His 7.84 strikeout-to-walk ratio topped the leader board, too. He and Snell pitched in two of baseball’s toughest divisions. Snell had a 1.08 ERA in his last four starts against the eventual World Series champion Red Sox.
A knock on Snell was his occasional loss of control. The 25-yearold lefty walked 64 and had just a 3.45 strikeout-to-walk ratio. But he went 21-5, and he and Kluber (20-7) were the majors’ first 20game winners since 2016. Additionally, Snell’s 1.89 ERA was the third-lowest in the AL since the designated hitter was instituted in 1973.
Verlander finished just 16-9, but he ranked 46th among all major leaguers with an average of 4.25 runs of support per game. Whether wins factored into the voters’ decision is debatable. Mets ace Jacob deGrom, he of a 10-9 record, received all but one first-place vote in a landslide win for the National League Cy Young.
Both Verlander and Snell were studs in September, often a crucial month for voters.
Verlander had a 1.09 ERA in 33 innings, striking out 50. Snell punched out 53 in 352⁄3 innings, accruing a 1.26 ERA in his last six starts. Snell did not allow more than two runs in 27 of his 31 starts. Verlander allowed more than three earned runs five times.
Both men were named on all 30 ballots, which were cast by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America prior to postseason play. Verlander was listed first or second on all but four ballots. Snell was not listed lower than third.
Verlander, who won the award in 2011, joins Warren Spahn, Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling as pitchers to finish as Cy Young runner-up three times. This was the second time in three seasons Verlander resided in second place.
In 2016, he finished five points behind winner Rick Porcello, a byproduct of two voters from the Tampa Bay BBWAA chapter leaving Verlander completely off their five-man ballots.
Supermodel Kate Upton, then Verlander’s girlfriend, lashed out in a profanity-laced Twitter tirade to display her disgust. Thursday, the two voters who represented the Tampa chapter slotted Verlander third and fourth, respectively.
“Let’s just say I won’t be going to Tampa any time soon,” tweeted Upton, now Verlander’s wife, who gave birth to the couple’s first child, Genevieve, last week.
“Justin wants everyone to know I’m just joking.”
Fittingly, the Astros and Rays open the 2019 season at Tropicana Field on March 28, where the two finalists stand a distinct chance of opposing each other as opening-day starters.