Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner. (Or winners, in this case.)
Major League Baseball on Wednesday handed out its annual Cy Young Award for best pitchers in the American and National Leagues. And this year’s winners came as no surprise.
Houston Astros ace Justin Verlander was named this year’s AL Cy Young winner, beating out teammate Gerrit Cole and Charlie Morton of the Tampa Bay Rays for the honor. Verlander finished with 17 first-place votes and 13 second-place votes, while Cole earned 13 first-place votes and 17 second-place votes. Morton received no first or second-place votes.
The New York Mets’ Jake deGrom, meanwhile, earned the NL award for the second year in a row. This time, he beat out Hyun-Jin Ryu of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Max Scherzer of the 2019 World Champion Washington Nationals for the title with a whopping 29 first-place votes and just one second-place vote. Ryu received the only other first-place vote, tying with Scherzer for second place.
Verlander, 36, went 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300 strikeouts through 34 starts in 2019. He was named to the AL All-Star team for the eighth time and threw the third no-hitter of his career Sept. 1. This is the second time he’s won the coveted award.
DeGrom, 31, went 11-8 with a 2.43 ERA and 255 strikeouts in 34 starts despite starting the season 4-7. He now joins Verlander as one of 20 players to receive multiple Cy Young’s in their career and is the seventh NL pitcher to win the title in consecutive seasons.
