Angels News: Shohei Ohtani Snubbed as AL Cy Young Award Finalist
On Monday, Major League Baseball announced the finalists for their end-of-season awards. Shohei Ohtani was, of course, named a finalist for the American League MVP Award for the second straight season. He's competing against Aaron Judge of the Yankees and Yordan Alvarez of the Astros.
However, the bigger question surrounding Ohtani on Monday was whether or not he would be a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award. He wasn't, and that came as a bit of a surprise.
The finalists for the award are Justin Verlander of the Astros, Alek Manoah of the Blue Jays and Dylan Cease of the White Sox. Verlander was obviously going to be there, as he's the heavy favorite to win the award. But after that, it seemed pretty open. And Ohtani, who was one of the best pitchers in the AL in 2022, seemed to have a real case.
In terms of AL ranks, here's where Ohtani stacked up:
ERA: 2.33 (4th behind the three Cy Young finalists)
Strikeouts: 219 (3rd)
WHIP: 1.01 (5th)
Opp. Average: .203 (6th)
However, here is where he ranked in some of the advanced stat categories.
K/9: 11.87 (1st)
K-BB%: 26.5% (1st)
SIERA: 2.73 (1st)
xERA: 2.68 (2nd behind Verlander)
FIP: 2.40 (2nd behind Kevin Gausman)
In descending order, Cease ranked 3rd, 7th, 8th, 3rd and 7th in those 'advanced stat' categories. Manoah ranked 13th, 11th, 14th, 5th and 9th.
Cease and Manoah had incredible seasons in 2022. But Ohtani was as dominant as anyone in baseball.
At one point in June and July, Ohtani had a 0.39 ERA across a 45.2 inning stretch. During that time, he pitched 31.2 straight innings without allowing an earned run, and won six consecutive starts. He and Verlander were the only two AL players to do that this season. Verlander's team went 106-56 and went on to win the World Series. Ohtani's team went 73-89.
And in Ohtani's second to last start of the season, with the Angels already eliminated from playoff contention, the 28-year-old was as dominant as ever. He took a no-hit bid into the 8th inning, and fell just four outs short of putting a bow on an incredible season.
Ohtani deserved to be a finalist for the AL Cy Young Award. He wouldn't have beat out Verlander, but he was most definitely one of the three best pitchers in the American League this season. And he was probably the second best.
When it comes to awards season, there are always going to be snubs. This year, however, none were bigger than Ohtani in the AL Cy Young race.
