In what has become common place in Major League Baseball, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians have been named NL and AL Cy Young Award winners (respectively).
Scherzer, who garnered 27 or 32 first place votes, takes home his second consecutive Cy Young and the third of his career after posting a 16-4 record with a 2.51 ERA good for second best in the League while leading the NL with 268 strikeouts.
In 2017, ranked 2nd among @MLB starters in average 4-seam spin rate (2504 RPM).
For the 2nd straight year, the @Nationals ace came in 1st in the NL Cy Young Award race. pic.twitter.com/QQk0jbUju0
— #Statcast (@statcast) November 15, 2017
Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw ended up finishing second behind Scherzer winning the NL ERA title at 2.31. However after missing time with a back injury, Scherzer was able to really cement himself as the pick out of the senior circuit edging out Kershaw in strikeout percentage while pitching in 25 more innings.
As far Kluber, he earns himself his second Cy Young Award in the past three seasons acquiring 28 of a possible 30 first place votes. After helping Cleveland to an AL best 102-60 record, Kluber led the AL in wins (18), ERA (2.25) and was second in strikeouts (265).
Batters vs. the curveball that helped Corey Kluber claim his 2nd AL Cy Young Award in 2017:
– .104 BA
– .149 SLG
– 141 Ks (most in @MLB by 33)
– Countless awkward swings pic.twitter.com/Zm3QFvJ5oV— #Statcast (@statcast) November 15, 2017
The Cleveland ace finished ahead of Boston’s Chris Sale who tore apart the AL with 308 strikeouts in 32 starts becoming the first American League pitcher since Pedro Martinez in 1999 to strike out at least 300 batters in a season.
Corey Kluber now owns 40% of the Cy Young Awards in Indians history. He's the 19th pitcher in MLB history to win multiple Cy Youngs.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) November 15, 2017
However a slide towards the end of 2017 seemed to have sunk Sale’s chances at a Cy Young.
