Jacob de Grom wins NL Cy Young; Blake Snell gets AL nod

[True Dough]

I think both are deserving.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25278199/jacob-degrom-new-york-mets-wins-nl-cy-young-award

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25277654/blake-snell-tampa-bay-rays-al-cy-young-award-winner

[ProfessorGAC]

1. DeGrom

He was 2/3rds of a run lower than the next closest pitcher in the NL.

The only reason why i thought Scherzer had a chance was that his K's per 9 was better and his hits per 9 was lower.

They were essentially tied in WHIP.

[True Dough]

2. deGrom also had a 10-9 record

which some people made a bit of a fuss about, saying it was not worthy of a Cy Young. But he pitched extremely well for a cruddy team. The voters saw that, giving Jacob 29 1st-place votes compared to just 1 for Max.

Scherzer had himself another excellent season and racked up 18 wins, but he won the Cy Young the last two years so I'm glad deGrom got it.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. Heard A Stat On That Yesterday

Pretty sure i have this right, but he pitched something like 18 games where we went at least 6 innings and gave up one of fewer runs.

In those games, the team went 5-13 and he was pitcher of record in 8, but went 4 & 4. That should have been 8 more wins and he would have been 18-9 and nobody would have said a thing about wins.

[True Dough]

4. Absolutely!

If he had even average run support his wins would have shot right up.

[ProfessorGAC]

5. It's Why Better Metrics Matter

That said, i've looked at the actual statistical underpinnings of WAR, and i'm not sold on the math.

But things like WHIP, and K's per nine, and BAARISP and pretty valuable when determining how effective a pitcher is.