It\u2019s no surprise Gerrit Cole is the favorite once again to win the AL Cy Young Award for the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
second straight here. In 2023, he began the year as the favorite. But interestingly, when you<\/p>\n\n\n\n
look back at the last 9 AL Cy Young winners, the average betting odds are +8200, which shows<\/p>\n\n\n\n
there\u2019s always a chance an unknown pitcher can breakthrough and win, like Robbie Ray did it in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2021 and Rick Porcello in 2016, both began the season at an incredible +20000. Let\u2019s take a<\/p>\n\n\n\n
look at some of the options, and perhaps a longer shot pick that could pay out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is the reigning Cy Young and coming off arguably the best season of his career. Gerrit Cole<\/p>\n\n\n\n
led the American League in ERA, shutouts, hits allowed per nine and innings pitched. Cole has<\/p>\n\n\n\n
finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting for six consecutive seasons. He\u2019s posted an ERA of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3.50 or better in every season with the Yankees. Another dominant season and he\u2019ll be in the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
conversation, but at these shorter odds, you may want to look for better value elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kevin Gausman finished 12-9 with an ERA of 3.16 last season with the Blue Jays and averaged<\/p>\n\n\n\n
almost 12 strikeouts per nine innings. His record should have been better considering Toronto<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was fifth in batting but for whatever reason Gausman didn\u2019t receive run support in his starts. He<\/p>\n\n\n\n
was shut out in four of his last 15 starts. In 32 games overall, Gausman was supported by three<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or fewer runs in half of those games. If he gets better run support in 2024, he should get in<\/p>\n\n\n\n
contention for the Cy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the AL East has the two favorites for this award, there could be another surprise<\/p>\n\n\n\n
contender. Corbin Burnes has some great stuff and can contend with any elite pitcher. He<\/p>\n\n\n\n
always won the NL Cy Young in 2021 at +4000 odds. He\u2019s still in his 20\u2019s and 4 years younger<\/p>\n\n\n\n
than Cole and 3 years younger than Gaussman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
George Kirby could be in store for a breakout season. He\u2019s found a groove excelling at getting<\/p>\n\n\n\n
hitters to chase pitches and finding a way to pound the strike zone. The 26-year-old has some<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of the best control in baseball. He went 13-10 with a 3.35 ERA, walking just 19 batters in 190.2<\/p>\n\n\n\n
innings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2023 Gerrit Cole (NYY) +650<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2022 Justin Verlander (HOU) +1600<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2021 Robbie Ray (TOR) +20000<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2020 Shane Bieber (CLE) +1200<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2019 Justin Verlander (HOU) +1500<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2018 Blake Snell (TB) +10000<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2017 Corey Kluber (CLE) +4000<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2016 Rick Porcello (BOS) +20000<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2015 Dallas Keuchel (HOU) +15000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s no surprise Gerrit Cole is the favorite once again to win the AL Cy Young Award for the second…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":24775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[136],"tags":[149],"class_list":["post-24774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-mlb"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t