2017 Cy Young Winners Announced

 

By Logan Jurgens

 

2017 was the year of the homerun, yet there were a handful of pitchers who had unbelievable years. The 2017 Cy Young recipients are both repeat winners, with the Cleveland Indians Corey Kluber and Washington Nationals Max Scherzer taking home the honors.

 

This is Corey Kluber's second American League Cy Young win in four years, beating out AL finalist Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox by receiving 28 out of 30 first-place votes. It is the fourth Cleveland Cy Young win since 2007, along with CC Sabathia (2007) and Cliff Lee (2008). Coming off of a fantastic post season, where the Indians were defeated by the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the World Series, Kluber and the Indians felt they had to prove themselves. But the season could not have started worse for Kluber, through May 2, he sported a 5.06 ERA with 38 hits allowed compared to his 37.1 innings pitched. Not really the way you want to start a season, especially a season with World Series or bust aspirations.

 

After a month long stint on the disabled list, Kluber returned a whole new man. He was named AL Pitcher of the Month in June, August, and September. Over his final 23 starts he donned a 1.62 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 166.1 innings. Kluber's 11.8 K/BB in the second half of the season was the third best in MLB history and he led the majors with a career-best 2.25 ERA along with five complete games and three shutouts. The playoffs did not end the way the Indians wanted, but their number one man had a hell of a season.

 

On the National League side of things, Max Scherzer put on a clinic all season long. He was the only NL finalist that threw made at least 30 starts and threw at least 200 innings. Mighty Max led all NL pitchers with a 6.0 WAR and strikeouts with 268. Scherzer also won 18 games with a league-best 2.31 ERA. Last season, Scherzer became the sixth pitcher in MLB history to win a Cy Young award in both leagues. His first came in 2013 with the Detroit Tigers. This year makes three, and also makes Scherzer the 10^th pitcher with at least three Cy Young awards won.

 

In just the past five seasons, Scherzer has made 5 All-Star appearances, won 3 Cy Young awards, thrown 200+ innings each season, and had 240+ strikeouts each year. Players with numbers similar to that are Pedro Martinez, Sandy Koufax, and Juan Marichal just to name a few. By the way, they are all in the Hall of Fame. There is no doubt that he will end up in Cooperstown upon his retirement.