The races for the American League and National League Cy Young Awards are coming right down to the wire.
The AL in particular has a pretty tight race for the Cy Young.
Justin Verlander has the best ERA in all of baseball at 1.84, but a certain Chicago White Sox starter isn’t all that far behind him.
Dylan Cease is second in all of baseball with a 2.06 ERA.
While Verlander might be the favorite to win it, Cease certainly has a decent shot at winning the award as well.
In fact, he leads all American League pitchers with a 5.8 WAR.
2022 AL Pitching WAR Leaders:
Dylan Cease (5.8)
Shohei Ohtani (4.8)
Justin Verlander (4.8)
Martin Perez (4.7)All Leaders: https://t.co/skKaEseHgc pic.twitter.com/BWy8qPxOks
— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) September 13, 2022
Cease’s Cy Young Case
While ERA is usually the deciding factor in who gets the Cy Young Award, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to think that Cease has a decent chance at actually winning the award.
It would be a nice story, especially after he was ultimately snubbed out of the All-Star Game.
Cease certainly deserved to be an All-Star with the way he’d been pitching, and as time goes on, he proves that it was a grave mistake to give him the snub.
But what matters here is not who was an All-Star and who wasn’t.
It won’t change the fact that both Cease and Verlander have been arguably the two best pitchers in all of baseball this season.
It won’t change the fact that Cease does in fact have a legitimate chance to win the award.
With Verlander out, the White Sox ace has a chance to get closer to him in terms of ERA.
For now, Cease does lead the AL in WAR for pitchers, and that should be enough to at least garner him some consideration, though it may not win him the award.
NEXT: The White Sox Have 2 Major Liabilities On Offense
