Houston Astros starter Justin Verlander won his third Cy Young Award on Wednesday night.
He did it unanimously, too: all 30 first-place votes by members of the BBWAA went to him.
Chicago White Sox righty Dylan Cease finished second, and Toronto Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah came in third.
Those were the three finalists.
The fourth-ranked pitcher in the American League was a familiar face.
You will remember him as the winner of the AL MVP in 2021: Los Angeles Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani.
In fact, there is a fun bit of data about Ohtani and his fourth-place finish in the 2022 Cy Young voting.
Not about the award per se, but get this:
“Shohei Ohtani finished 4th in the AL Cy Young voting. (Also, he has hit HRs against all of three of the guys ahead of him)” Angels insider Jeff Fletcher tweeted.
Shohei Ohtani finished 4th in the AL Cy Young voting.
(Also, he has hit HRs against all of three of the guys ahead of him.) pic.twitter.com/ILibFOH3Ab
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) November 17, 2022
There Is Always An Ohtani Fun Fact
It’s not common for your typical fourth-place finisher in the Cy Young voting to homer against the top three.
Ohtani, of course, is not common himself, so he does lots of special things.
This season was a success as a hitter: he slashed .273/.356/.519 with 34 home runs.
He produced more or less like Mookie Betts.
But he also had a similar pitching line to Shane McClanahan: a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings, with 219 strikeouts.
In other words, he was a top-ten hitter and a top-ten pitcher, all while occupying a single spot on the roster.
It it weren’t for Aaron Judge‘s dream season, we would be talking about Ohtani’s second consecutive MVP award.
Ohtani was even better this past season than in 2021, when he took the MVP unanimously.
He was born to make history.
NEXT: Shohei Ohtani Drops A Big Announcement For 2023