2018 NL Cy Young Award

[junior94]

I don't know that I'm necessarily going to do this with all 4 major awards as I have done in the past, in fact I'm probably not. But I figured I'd scratch my stats OCD itch with this one for now and see how it goes, given it's also not one of the clearest winners yet. I feel like it's reasonably competitive between these three.


1. Jacob deGrom (NYM) - 31 GS l 9-9 l 1.77 ERA l 209 IP l 150 H l 259/46 K/BB (5.63) l 0.94 WHIP l 27 Quality Starts (87%) l 11.15 K/9 l 61.1 Avg Game Score l 3.55 Run Support l 2.08 Defensive-Independent ERA l .533 Opp OPS l 9.1 WAR


2. Aaron Nola (PHI) - 32 GS l 16-6 l 2.45 ERA l 205.1 IP l 147 H l 216/54 K/BB (4.0) l 0.98 WHIP l 24 QS (75%) l 9.47 K/9 l 61.0 AGS l 3.81 RS l 3.00 DIPS l .576 Opp OPS l 9.8 WAR


3. Max Scherzer (WAS) - 32 GS l 17-7 l 2.57 ERA l 213.2 IP l 145 H l 290/51 K/BB (5.59) l 0.92 WHIP l 27 QS (84%) l 12.22 K/9 l 53.5 AGS l 5.16 RS l 2.64 DIPS l .583 Opp OPS l 8.5 WAR

[scrock25]

It has to be deGrom, right?!

[TwoStep2888]

gotta go DeGrom

[smokew11]

def deGrom

[SmoothD41]

deGrom NL
Snell AL

[scrock25]

Snell AL fo sho

[FromTheMorning]

MVP is the closer race. I’d say deGrom and Acuna are close to locks for Cy and ROY

[junior94]

Originally Posted by scrock25

Snell AL fo sho

now see THAT seemed very obvious to me, to the point of not even going there. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong to be so quick to put faith in stat guys and writers that the WAR thing of the last few years is more the end/be all than anything else. I know deGrom's got the main ERA, but I thought with some of the other numbers on balance it made this award not as clear.


for AL MVP it's if anything between Trout (as usual) and Betts, though I would guess with the playoffs that gives it to the latter.

[Tiduwho]

deGrom easily. I am very curious on how it is even possible that deGrom has a lower WAR than Nola. He is better in all of the numbers you've posted. What is it that is giving Nola such a high win share?

[JRS1386]

Roose the homer, wish I had those balls

[junior94]

Originally Posted by Tiduwho

deGrom easily. I am very curious on how it is even possible that deGrom has a lower WAR than Nola. He is better in all of the numbers you've posted. What is it that is giving Nola such a high win share?

maybe it does have something to do with Wins, even though most everyone seems to agree nowadays that generally isn't as important and glamorous as it used to be, as too much is out of the pitcher's hands? And granted, technically I guess there are two different types of WAR, I think it's one by Baseball-reference.com and one by Fan Graphs (this one is whichever ESPN.com uses).


I've never seen even one of the equations actually written out on paper as for how WAR is determined, but I'd wager it wouldn't fit in a single tweet

[cooke726]

voting for Nola purely out of bias.

in reality...it probably goes to DeGrom. but fuck the mets.

[Jake]

I like Neagle over Pedro and Maddux. There's something to be said for winning 20 games

[mr. testaverde]

Originally Posted by junior94

maybe it does have something to do with Wins, even though most everyone seems to agree nowadays that generally isn't as important and glamorous as it used to be, as too much is out of the pitcher's hands?

and yet broadcasters still use it as a main talking point

[YouNeverKnow25]

Originally Posted by Tiduwho

deGrom easily. I am very curious on how it is even possible that deGrom has a lower WAR than Nola. He is better in all of the numbers you've posted. What is it that is giving Nola such a high win share?

Originally Posted by junior94

maybe it does have something to do with Wins, even though most everyone seems to agree nowadays that generally isn't as important and glamorous as it used to be, as too much is out of the pitcher's hands? And granted, technically I guess there are two different types of WAR, I think it's one by Baseball-reference.com and one by Fan Graphs (this one is whichever ESPN.com uses).


I've never seen even one of the equations actually written out on paper as for how WAR is determined, but I'd wager it wouldn't fit in a single tweet

the WAR cited is baseball-reference WAR. BR's calculation for pitcher WAR specifically takes into account the defense behind the pitcher. philly has one of the worst team defenses in the live-ball era, so he is getting a lot of credit in refWAR due to putting up the numbers he has with an awful defense behind him.

[YouNeverKnow25]

fwiw deGrom's fangraphs WAR dwarfs Nola's (8.3 to 5.5)

[Roose13]

Picked Nola because my vote doesn't matter. Of course it's deGrom.

[Roose13]

If deGrom wins, that has to be the lowest win total in Cy Young history by far, right?

[YouNeverKnow25]

Originally Posted by Roose13

If deGrom wins, that has to be the lowest win total in Cy Young history by far, right?

http://www.espn.com/mlb/news/story?id=1660942

[Roose13]

I should have specified that for a starting pitcher. But thanks for playing along.