Awards season is upon us this MLB offseason. Just last week, we saw the Washington Nationals be crowned World Series champions, but now it’s time for the individual awards. All finalists for Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards for both the American and National League have been announced and will be revealed beginning November 11th. Now it’s time for the End of the Bench’s predictions for each award. Here, we are going to look at the Cy Young award in the National League.
NL Cy Young:
Jacob deGrom, NYM
Hyun-Jin Ryu, LAD
Max Scherzer, WAS
Much like the three finalists in the AL, the NL has its fair share of firepower among these finalists. Reigning winner, Jacob deGrom, has once again proven to be one of the best starting pitchers in the game today. Much like last season, deGrom was a tank, finishing his season with a 2.43 ERA, 255 strikeouts, 2.67 FIP, 0.971 WHIP, 11.3 K/9 and a 7.9 WAR in 204 innings pitched. Sure, he only won 11 games, but don’t get me started on how pitcher wins are meaningless when valuing a pitcher; he won the award last year because of sheer dominance and could very well do it again this year. Stopping him was the out of nowhere candidacy of Hyun-Jin Ryu. A man who has struggled with arm issues throughout his career with the Dodgers, Ryu was able to find a way to make it all click in 2019. The NL ERA leader with a 2.32, 1.007 WHIP, ERA+ of 179, and a 1.2 BB/9, the lowest in the majors. Ryu now enters free agency, where he should get a hefty pay day after his astonishing 2019 campaign. Finally, we have Mad Max. Already a three-time Cy Young winner, Scherzer continued to do what Scherzer does. 2.92 ERA, league leading 2.45 FIP, 12.7 K/9, 243 strikeouts and 1.027 WHIP, the first time in four years where his WHIP was over 1. The man plays to win and he stops at nothing to do it. This mentality and competitiveness helped with giving the Nationals their first ever World Series title.
Another close call in terms of a winner. It will be a very close race and each one of these guys is deserving. However, I do have to say deGrom seems like he’ll be taking home the gold for a second consecutive year as he beat out Ryu and Scherzer in games started, innings pitched, strikeouts and WAR.
Winner: Jacob deGrom, NYM
