4 Best Bets For AL Cy Young Right Now

By Dave July 30, 2022

0 Comments

Coming down into the second half of the current MLB season there are a handful of awards to talk about. One of them is the potential winner of the AL Cy Young award. Here we have four candidates in the conference that are currently positioning themselves to be able to win this award.

Shane McClanahan, Tampa Bay Rays (+220)

The Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Shane McClanahan is quickly emerging as one of the best players at his position. At the moment, he currently leads the league when it comes to ERA at 1.76 and WHIP at 0.77. Plus, he’s thrown the second greatest number of strikeouts in the league at a whopping 154. He’s currently flying past the inning total that he had last season which could create some uncertainty down the stretch of the season. However, his consistency makes it hard to say for certain that he will dip down in production.

Justin Verlander, Houston Astros (+260)

Despite playing in his 17^th season in the league, Justin Verlander is still at the top of his game. For the time being, he is currently third in the league when it comes to ERA at 1.86, second in WHIP at 0.88 and first in overall record at 13-3. He’s got some incredibly tough competition with McClanahan here, but if he dips in production in any way then Verlander will be right there to swoop in and take the top spot. At his age, with the time that he’s missed due to injuries, the performance he is putting out on the field is simply incredible.

Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels (+600)

Lately, Shohei Ohtani has started to rise up the rankings for this award due to a string of strong performances on the mound. Plus, it helps that he’s known as one of the greatest players in the game today, which could be garnering him extra attention. He’s not gotten as much work on the mound as other pitchers in this category have, but he’s still got solid numbers to back it up. He’s currently got the sixth most strikeouts at 145, the 17^th best ERA at 2.81 and the 16^th best WHIP at 1.02. Ohtani has work to do in order to catch up to both Verlander and McClanahan, but a player of his caliber could wind up pulling it off.

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees (+800)

Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees is a bit lower in the rankings for this award at the moment but that doesn’t mean he’s out of the race. If he can put together a stellar second half of the season, we could watch him fly upwards to catch up to these other competitors. Cole is sitting with the 24^th best ERA in the league at 3.09, the 17^th best WHIP at 1.02 and the fourth highest number of strikeouts at 153. It’s not a guarantee, but it also isn’t a longshot that he can move up the list here.