Gerrit Cole Falls Short in Race For AL Cy Young Award
Gerrit Cole's first full season in pinstripes was eventful to say the least.
At times, the right-hander was dominant, looking like the best pitcher on the planet. He shoved a complete-game shutout in his return to Houston, halted a losing streak with a 15-strikeout performance in Los Angeles and set an MLB record with his elite command, striking out 61 batters without a walk.
It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for the Yankees' ace in 2021, though.
Cole worked through his sticky stuff saga midway through the season, he missed time on the COVID-19 injured list and wilted when his team needed him the most, lasting just two innings in a season-ending loss to the Red Sox in the American League Wild Card Game.
Closing the book on his second year with the Yankees on Wednesday night, Cole finished second in the race for the AL Cy Young Award.
Blue Jays left-hander Robbie Ray received 29 of 30 first-place votes. Cole was the recipient of one first-place vote, earning 29 second-place votes.
Cole has now finished in the top five in Cy Young voting in each of the last four seasons and five times in his career.
It's hard not to wonder if Wednesday night's voting would've played out differently if Cole didn't battle a hamstring injury at the very end of the year.
Returning from his case of COVID-19, Cole allowed just two earned runs over 24.2 frames leading up the final month of the regular season. Exiting his next start on September 7 with hamstring tightness, Cole finished the year with a 6.15 ERA over his last five starts. That stretch included his worst outing of the year, a clunker against Cleveland at Yankee Stadium where Cole allowed seven runs on 10 hits.
In the end, Cole did have a magnificent season by the numbers. He posted a remarkable 3.23 ERA, led the American League with 16 wins and finished second (to Ray) with 243 strikeouts over 181.1 innings pitched.
Cole also ended up six strikeouts shy of setting a new franchise record for punch outs in a single season. Ron Guidry's 248-strikeout campaign in 1978 still stands alone in New York's history books.
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