USA TODAY International Edition
AL Cy Young race a battle
Scherzer has numbers to wrap up NL award
The Cy Young Award winners will be announced Wednesday. Close races are expected in both leagues. USA TODAY Sports examines top candidates and likely winners.
AMERICAN LEAGUE The case for Corey Klub
er: “Klubot” claimed the award in 2014, but the softspoken Cleveland Indians ace really came into prominence during this last postseason, when he put up one brilliant start after another. Kluber registered a 0.89 ERA over his first five October outings until running out of gas in the World Series finale, when he was pitching on short rest for the second time in row.
Those appearances weren’t factored into Cy Young voting, but they gave testament to what hitters have to deal with when facing the 6- 4 right- hander. Kluber went 18- 9 with a 3.14 ERA during the regular season, finishing in the top five in the league in innings ( 215), ERA, strikeouts ( 227), opponents’ batting average (. 216) and WHIP ( walks plus hits per inning pitched) at 1.06.
No less an authority than reliever Andrew Miller, the breakout star of the postseason, provided this assessment when asked what makes Kluber so tough:
“The movement on his ball. His breaking ball is as good as there is in the game. He throws that comeback sinker; he cuts the ball a little bit; he locates well. It’s impossible to
guess, because he commands everything so well.” The case for Justin Ver
lander: Coming off a down year, the 2011 Cy Young and MVP awards winner re- established himself as one of the game’s premier pitchers. At 33, the Detroit Tigers longtime ace demonstrated the ability to bring hitters to their knees without the tripledigit fastball he used to flash.
Verlander’s 16- 9 record was brought down by the Tigers’ inability to score more than one run in nine of his starts. A more accurate gauge of his performance are the league- leading 254 strikeouts he produced in 2272⁄ innings — second in the 3 AL — and his 1.00 WHIP, also an AL best. His 3.04 ERA ranked just behind the 3.00 posted by league leader Aaron Sanchez. Verlander was also second in opponents’ batting average at .207 and in on- base- plus- slugging percentage ( OPS) at .630. The case for Rick Porcello: At a time when the value of the win statistic for pitchers has been diminished, Porcello’s majors- leading 22 are noteworthy as the highest total in the majors since 2011. And they were not strictly the result of Porcello getting the AL’s highest run support ( 6.61), though that helped.
The Boston Red Sox sinkerballer ( 22- 4, 3.15 ERA) had the league’s best strikeout- to- walk ratio at 5.91, and his 32 bases on balls ranked second among qualifiers. He was also just a shade behind Verlander in WHIP at 1.01, indicative of a pitcher who keeps runners off base, and ranked fourth in opponents’ OPS at .635.
At 27, Porcello emerged as an ace on a staff that also includes David Price by reaching careerbest marks in innings ( 223), strikeouts ( 189) and starts ( 33).
History lesson: Should Verlander add a second Cy Young to his résumé, his five- year gap between awards would be the longest since Roy Halladay went seven years between his 2003 and 2010 victories.
Consensus: There isn’t one. USA TODAY Sports’ 10- member panel of baseball writers and editors had Kluber outpointing Verlander 49- 48, with each receiving four first- place votes and Porcello the other two. The actual voting might wind up that close.
In recent years, the value of innings pitched has emerged as a bigger factor, as voters considered the impact a workhorse can have on the rest of the pitching staff. In such a tight race, Verlander might earn the award because his edge of nearly 13 innings over Kluber essentially represents two more starts.
Still, it’s a toss- up.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
The case for Max Scher
zer: The Washington Nationals’ All- Star led the league in two of the three Triple Crown categories, winning 20 games and striking out 284. But it’s his unmatched combination of overpowering stuff, durability and knack for keeping runners off base that truly sets him apart.
Scherzer, 32, pitched more in-
nings than anybody else in the NL ( 2281⁄ 3) yet posted the lowest WHIP ( 0.97) and tied for the top strikeout- to- walk ratio ( 5.07). Scherzer tied a major league record when he struck out 20 Detroit Tigers on May 11, and for the season he allowed batters a .199 average.
The one category in which Scherzer lags is ERA, as his 2.96 mark — the result of a middling first two months — ranked eighth in the league. The case for Kyle Hen
dricks: In a rotation featuring Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester, Hendricks might have the best case for a Cy Young, though it’s close. Operating with surgical precision, the third- year righthander led the majors in ERA at 2.13 and was second in the NL in WHIP ( 0.98) while holding batters to the league’s lowest OPS (. 581).
Batters never really caught on to his below- the- hitting- speed assortment of sinkers, changeups and curves, mixed in with some four- seam fastballs in the 88- to 90- mph range. After going 7- 6 with a 2.55 ERA in the first half, Hendricks had a 9- 2 record and 1.68 ERA after the break.
The one major knock on Hendricks is his 190 innings pitched ranked only 13th in the league. The case for Jon Lester: The veteran lefty forced his way into the discussion with a sensational second half that featured a 10- 1 record with a 1.76 ERA. Lester got into a near- unstoppable roll at one point, going 9- 0 with a 0.96 ERA between July 29 and Sept. 25. Overall, he finished sec-
ond in the league in wins and ERA, going 19- 5, 2.44.
With Arrieta faltering at times, Lester assumed the role of staff ace and was especially effective at Wrigley Field, where the wind can be a pitcher’s friend or foe in the same game. Lester, who surpassed the 200- inning mark for the eighth time in his career, won 10 of 12 decisions with a 1.74 ERA at home, logging a quality start ( at least six innings, three earned runs or fewer) each of the 15 times he went out.
History lesson: Scherzer is trying to become the sixth pitcher to win the Cy Young in both leagues, joining Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson, as well as Roger Clemens and Roy Halladay. The closest Lester came while in the AL was fourth twice, in 2010 and 2014.
Consensus: If all outs were created equal, Hendricks might win, considering nobody came close to his 2.13 ERA. But Scherzer’s lead over him in strikeouts is huge ( 284- 170), and it’s almost as big over Lester ( 197). It’s likely voters will echo Scherzer’s words that “strikeouts are sexy.”
But it goes beyond that. Scherzer’s durability stands out over both of his rivals for the award — nearly 26 more innings than Lester and 38- plus more than Hendricks — and he didn’t benefit from superb fielding as both Cubs starters did. Chicago led all of baseball with 82 defensive runs saved. The Nationals were at - 15.
Therefore, the nod goes to Scherzer.