Author: Spencer Reyes
Editor: Fran Attie
As the 2021 MLB season comes to a close, many different awards are being given to the top baseball players in the world. Some award races are a lot closer than others.
The National League has become very interesting as teams and players are making their last push towards both the playoffs and their prospective awards. The American League has been lacking as far as pitching is concerned, when comparing with the National League, so it’s pretty easy to narrow it down to two candidates, Robbie Ray and Gerrit Cole. Both of their teams have had their ups and downs throughout the season, but recently, the Yankees and the Blue Jays have given their fans playoff hopes. As of this past week, Toronto and New York are the top 2 spots in the Wild Card Race.
Robbie Ray has risen from an early dark horse candidate to a top-tier pitcher in the American League. The former 12th round pick from 2010 has had the best season of his 8-year professional career. Currently, he is posting a 2.64 ERA, and is on track to beat his personal season strikeout record. To put this into perspective, Ray had a 6.62 ERA in 2020, and a 4.34 in 2019. The last time he recorded an ERA anywhere close to 2.64 was in 2017, when he had a 2.89 ERA. And although Ray has had a huge comeback story, Gerrit Cole seems to be the go-getter for the 2021 AL Cy Young.
Cole currently leads the AL in wins, complete games, SO/9, and K/BB. He has continued to post similar stats from 2018 until now, including an average ERA of 2.74. Cole has continued to prove that he is the number one option for these year’s AL race.
As I mentioned before, the National League Cy Young is up for grabs with almost 6 different candidates. According to Baseball Prospectus, 8 of the top 9 pitchers in baseball are from the NL. It’s safe to say that Trevor Bauer will not be repeating his 2020 season as he has been suspended for the rest of 2021. The most recent top 3 pitchers of the bunch have been Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer, and Zack Wheeler.
Corbin Burnes, along with Brandon Woodruff and Freddy Peralta, has propelled the Brewers to 1st place in the NL Central. Burnes is sitting in 2nd place in the National League regarding ERA, SO’s, and WHIP. The pitcher above him in each of these categories is the newly wed Dodger, Max Scherzer. After having an impressive set of 19 outings for the Nationals in 2021, he has been lights out with Los Angeles with an ERA of 0.88, and a total of 72 SO’s, averaging 9 strikeouts per game. Another superstar has stepped up to the mound and performed exceptionally well in 2021, and that is the former 6th overall pick in 2009, Zack Wheeler. Since joining the Phillies last season, Wheeler has gone from 2nd or 3rd in most rotations to becoming the ace and overthrowing Aaron Nola, who was slated to be the next big slinger for Philly. Baseball Reference, Baseball Prospectus, and FanGraphs all have Wheeler as the Cy Young winner for 2021.
Although these 3 aces have almost locked up their spots in this award race, fans cannot count out Kevin Gausman, Walker Buehler, and Brandon Woodruff. As September comes to a close, the MLB will have a much clearer picture of who will lead the NL pitchers for 2021.
SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE
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