Top 5 All-Time Cy Young Snubs
One Arm to Rule Them All
Last week I did a piece on the 5 biggest MVP snubs of all time. This week I shall do the same instead on the pitching side of the house. I know pitchers can win MVP, but the voters often stay away from voting for a pitcher to win MVP as they don’t play every day. That being said, I needed to show the arms some love.
Honorable Mentions - Roger Clemens - 1990, Warren Spahn - 1958, Johan Santana - 2005, Randy Johnson - 2004, Dave Stieb - 1982, Ernie Broglio - 1960, Nolan Ryan - 1973, Sam Jones - 1959, Tom Seaver - 1981, Mike Norris 1980, Phil Niekro - 1974
An easy one to start us off happened in 2016 when Justin Verlander lost the American League Cy Young to Rick Porcello!
5) Justin Verlander - 2016
Justin Verlander - 34 GS | 227.2 IP | 254 K | 57 BB | 3.04 ERA | 1.001 WHIP
Rick Porcello - 33 GS | 223 IP | 189 K | 32 BB | 3.15 ERA | 1.009 WHIP
Verlander put up a 7.2 WAR compared to Porcello’s 4.8. Just look at the statistics and you know this was a hack job. Verlander will go down as one of the all-time greats when it comes to pitching and he is missing a Cy Young award to his resume on his way to Cooperstown!
4) Dwight Gooden - 1984
Dwight Gooden - 31 GS | 218 IP | 276 K | 73 BB | 2.60 ERA | 1.073 WHIP
Rick Sutcliffe - 20 GS | 150.1 IP | 213 K | 85 BB | 3.64 ERA | 1.304 WHIP
Someone needs to explain to me how rookie sensation, Dwight Gooden, did not win the Cy Young Award in 1984. He racked up 276 strikeouts in 218 innings…as a rookie! Sutcliffe who won the award pitched 11 fewer games and had 12 more walks. Not to mention a full point higher on the ERA scale. Gooden was without a doubt a better pitcher than Rick Sutcliffe in the 1984 season. Did I mention Gooden was only 19 years old that season?
3) Jim Bunning - 1967
Jim Bunning - 40 GS | 302.1 IP | 253 K | 73 BB | 2.29 ERA | 1.039 WHIP
Mike McCormick - 35 GS | 262.1 IP | 150 K | 81 BB | 2.85 ERA | 1.147 WHIP
McCormick clearly got the vote as he finished with 22 wins compared to Bunning’s 17. The “Win” statistic has become less and less important as time has passed. Obviously, it is nice to see a big number there but there is a ton of team influence in that stat, and there is so much more to pitching than just racking up W’s.
2. Mariano Rivera - 2005
Mariano Rivera - 71 G | 78.1 IP | 80 K | 18 BB | 1.38 ERA | 0.868 WHIP
Bartolo Colon - 33 GS | 222.2 IP | 157 K | 43 BB | 3.48 ERA | 1.159 WHIP
I mentioned Johan Santana’s 2005 season in the honorable mentions and he could/should be mentioned here again. Rivera gave us one of the most impressive seasons ever as a Closer. It is extremely hard to win this award as a reliever but this is one of the instances it should have happened.
Bartolo Colon led the league in wins and that is his main defense. Mariano Rivera was untouchable, as he put up a 1.38 ERA on the year. He also delivered 43 saves and seven wins in the process.
1) Kevin Appier - 1993
Kevin Appier - 34 GS | 238.2 IP | 254 K | 81 BB | 2.56 ERA | 1.106 WHIP
Jack McDowell - 34 GS | 256.2 IP | 158 K | 69 BB | 3.37 ERA | 1.286 WHIP
McDowell had a 4.4 WAR versus Appier’s 9.3 WAR. I’ll give kudos to McDowell for being able to deliver 256 and ⅔ innings as we never see that anymore. But the award was STOLEN from Appier. Besides walks, Appier was superior to McDowell in 1993. Somehow Appier only received one first-place vote….