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MLB: Top 5 early season Cy Young Award favorites
Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports
Even though it's early in the 2017 MLB season, the Cy Young award in both leagues is still being discussed. Who would get it if the season ended today?
The grass is still fresh on the 2017 MLB season. Though beginning to fade, the feeling of a new season is still there and the excitement has not yet been replaced with the grind. The dog days of summer are getting closer, but are still far enough away. Yet even though the season is still fresh, there have been a lot of storylines.
Aaron Judge has burst onto the scene alongside the rejuvenated New York Yankees. The Minnesota Twins have staved off the much more powerful Cleveland Indians and Detroit Tigers to hold on to first place in the AL Central. The Houston Astros are a team reborn with their play thus far, which has them five and half games up on the second place Texas Rangers. The Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies have sprung onto the scene by holding first place in their respective divisions. The Eric Thames experiment has been a rousing success.
But not all has been positive for everyone. The Kansas City Royals are a dumpster fire and the New York Mets are in complete disarray. The Chicago Cubs are suffering from a World Series hangover that is starting to finally subside.
Like every season, this one has been just as spontaneous. The script is completely different for every season and there are always things we just can not explain nor can we prepare ourselves for.
Pitching statistics have been good thus far. 20 starting pitchers have ERAs sub-3.00. Though early, there are many different favorites for the Cy Young award at the end of the season. Midway through May, here are the top five candidates.
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5) Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians
Carrasco has been the one bright spot in an otherwise terrible starting rotation for the Indians. The Indians starting rotation ranks last in the American League with an ERA of 4.98. Corey Kluber and Josh Tomlin have been disappointing and Carrasco has been the one to anchor this ailing staff.
Carrasco ranks ninth among all starters in MLB with an ERA of 2.60. He ranks third in the entire league with a WHIP of 0.88. Opponents are hitting a measly .194 against him.
He is currently day-to-day with a pectoral injury and will make his next start tomorrow, May 23rd, against the Cincinnati Reds. The Indians will need him to return to the way he was pitching prior to his injury, which is not thought to be serious.
It is a miracle that the Indians are tied for first place in the AL Central with their starting staff being as bad as it has been. It is still early in the season, but Carrasco does show signs of becoming the ace of the Indians.
Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
4) Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
With Kershaw's shortened 2016 season, many were worried as to whether or not the three time National League Cy Young winner could return to form. As of May 22, it seems as if he officially has.
Kershaw ranks fifth in ERA with a statistic of 2.15 and in WHIP with a 0.89. He is also tied for the league-lead in wins with seven.
He has continued his anchoring of the Dodgers' pitching staff. The Dodgers rank second in starter's ERA in the National League with a 3.56. The biggest reason for that success has been due to Kershaw's performance. The Dodgers are only two games back of the Rockies for first place and have had a successful season thus far. So long as Kershaw continues his great play, the Dodgers will be in playoff contention come September.
Kershaw has proven time and time again that he can stay consistent throughout the course of a season so it will be no surprise when at the end of the year, he will be a front-runner for the National League Cy Young award.
Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
3) Ervin Santana, Minnesota Twins
Santana has undoubtedly been one of the biggest surprises of 2017, as he has gone under the radar for the past couple of years. In 2015, he mustered an ERA of 4.00 in 17 starts and improved on that by gathering up an ERA of 3.38 last year. It should not be a surprise that Santana again improved for this season, however it is a huge surprise that he is doing this well.
He ranks fourth in the league with an ERA of 2.07 and with a WHIP of 0.89. Hitters seem to be baffled when facing Santana due to them hitting .144 against him.
Not only has Santana surprised the baseball world, but so has his team. The Twins are currently tied for first place in the AL Central after finishing in last place in 2016 with 103 losses.
Back in the offseason leading up to the 2015 campaign, the Twins signed Santana to a four-year, $54 million deal. It was the richest free agent signing in franchise history and for the first 81 games of that, it was a complete bust. Santana was suspended for the first 81 games of the 2015 season because of a failed performance-enhancing drug test.
Since then, he has shined with a record of 20-18 and an ERA of 3.41. He has also eaten up a lot of innings, 350 1/3 to be exact.
If he continues his success, that contract will seem like even more of a win.
Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
2) Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox
When the Boston Red Sox traded many important pieces of their farm system for Chris Sale during this past offseason, the expectations were as high as they could possibly be.
And not only has Sale met these expectations, he has far surpassed them.
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Sale ranks sixth in the league with an ERA of 2.19. He leads the league in WHIP with a 0.79. Hitters cannot hit him, as they are only batting .172 against him. Sale is also mowing down the opposition, as he has 95 strikeouts, which leads the MLB. The next person behind that has 77 (Chris Archer).
On Friday, Sale recorded his eighth consecutive start with at least 10 strikeouts. The only other two pitchers to have previously done that are Pedro Martinez and himself, which is quite impressive. One more game with at least 10 strikeouts and Sale will be the first pitcher in league history to do it.
Sale has been hands-down the best starting pitcher in the Red Sox's rotation – a rotation that features the AL Cy Young winner from last year, Rick Porcello, and the AL Cy Young winner from 2012 in David Price.
All in all, Sale has been the anchor for the Red Sox and will be for the coming years. With him pitching like this, there is no doubt that he will be challenging this next pitcher for the AL Cy Young award.
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
1) Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros
The Astros have soared this year and Keuchel has dazzled, proving that his 2015 Cy Young award was no fluke. One year removed from going 20-8 with a 2.48 ERA, Keuchel flopped last season by going 9-12 with an ERA of 4.55.
2016 was not just a bad year for Keuchel. It was also a bad year for the Astros, as they went 84-78 and missed the playoffs after a great season in 2015.
Keuchel has been the best pitcher in baseball with his league-leading 1.84 ERA. He is tied with Kershaw for the league-lead in wins with seven. His WHIP ranks second at 0.86. Opponents cannot seem to figure him out due to them only hitting .186 against him. Keuchel has led the charge this year for the first place Astros, who currently sit 5.5 games up on the second place Rangers.
If Keuchel can continue his dominance, he will win the AL Cy Young award and prove that he is one of the best pitchers in the game with two Cy Youngs in three years.
