What a great year for pitching! Kluber still continues to dominate, Porcello is great for Boston, and his former teammate, Justin Verlander, is back after he started to decline! The National League side featured two Cubs, probably because they always like to invade award shows. Kyle Hendricks is a great young pitcher and Jon Lester is reliable. Max Scherzer is great for the Nationals and this race will be interesting... I'll just clearly name the nominees and then get started with the picks/endorsements. American League: Justin Verlander (Tigers) Corey Kluber (Indians) Rick Porcello (Red Sox) National League: Kyle Hendricks (Cubs) Jon Lester (Cubs) Max Scherzer (Nationals) My pick for AL Cy Young is... Justin VerlanderWhy did I pick him over a 22 game winner?! Well, here's the deal, I originally chose Porcello but when I saw the leaders in each pitching category, I had to retract my pick. Verlander deserves to win because he found himself near the top of each applicable category. He had 254 strikeouts (most in AL and second most in MLB), 1.00 WHIP (Walks+Hits per innings pitched), 227.2 innings pitched (third in MLB), and an ERA of 3.04 (second best in AL). His record was 16-9, which is decent. I think now that wins are great for determining a Cy Young but they should not be the most dominant factor. I think that because wins for a pitcher can be a joint effort. Their team could definitely play a role in wins because pitchers can have the best game ever but not receive any run support and get a no decision or a loss (if they give up a solo shot or maybe something else crazy happens). Verlander had a good team to back him up but he did not have an offense like Boston's. He really stepped up this year after fading into the background the past couple of years. I'm happy to see him back and I hope that he wins the Cy Young again. My pick for NL Cy Young is... Jon LesterWhy Lester? Improvement. Doing better than before seems to be my theme for these picks but I think that they should be awarded for that. Lester went from an ERA of 3.34 last year (15th in NL) to 2.44 this year (Second in NL). He had 19 wins this year, second most in the NL and 8 better than last year. It did help that he had baseball's best offense and one of the best defenses behind him, but he did contribute his share to their success (202.2 innings pitched sure helps). Lester knows how to win and the numbers support that; his winning percentage this year went up to .792, the best in the NL. Lester was on a great rotation and managed to be among the best in his league, a remarkable achievement that deserves to win a Cy Young. Make sure to watch who wins the award at 6 pm ET on MLB Network!
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