The last time the NL Cy Young was this close

by erik on Nov 23, 2009 11:39 AM EST

This year’s NL Cy Young vote was one of the closest in history, but 1987’s vote was the closest ever. Let’s take a quick retrospective.

Rank		Tm	Vote Pts	1st Place	Share	W	L	ERA	G	GS	SV	IP
1	Steve Bedrosian	PHI	57.0	9.0	48%	5	3	2.83	65	0	40	89.0
2	Rick Sutcliffe	CHC	55.0	4.0	46%	18	10	3.68	34	34	0	237.1
3	Rick Reuschel	TOT	54.0	8.0	45%	13	9	3.09	34	33	0	227.0
4	Orel Hershiser	LAD	14.0	2.0	12%	16	16	3.06	37	35	1	264.2
5	Dwight Gooden	NYM	12.0	1.0	10%	15	7	3.21	25	25	0	179.2
5	Nolan Ryan	HOU	12.0	0.0	10%	8	16	2.76	34	34	0	211.2
7	Mike Scott	HOU	9.0	0.0	8%	16	13	3.23	36	36	0	247.2
8	Bob Welch	LAD	3.0	0.0	2%	15	9	3.22	35	35	0	251.2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/23/2009.

Steve Bedrosian? Whiff!

Let's consult Rally's Historical WAR Database to find the "shoulda been" winner.

	WAR
Steve Bedrosian	2.6
Rick Sutcliffe	5.6
Rick Reuschel	3.8
Orel Hershiser	6.7
Nolan Ryan	5.5
Doc Gooden	3.8
Mike Scott	5.7
Bob Welch	6.6

It turns out Orel Hershiser was the guy, but he had 16 losses, which is of course is anathema. His teammate Bob Welch was equally as good, and yet received only one lowsy 3rd place vote. He checked in with just 15 wins. Good performance but wrong era, guys.

Nolan Ryan was as good as Rick Sutcliffe, but despite 270 strikeouts, Ryan obviously didn't know how to win. Pssshh.

For all the holy outrage against certain newbies who are now voting BBWAA, just take a gander at 1987's results. People have done a lot crazier things with their ballots.

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Comments

You and your anti-save propaganda

Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.

by Jeff Zimmerman on Nov 23, 2009 12:16 PM EST reply actions

Obviously

It had to be the beard.

by Tommy Bennett on Nov 23, 2009 12:40 PM EST reply actions

Darn beardies

I wish I could grow one.

godfather of futureredbirds.net

by erik on Nov 23, 2009 12:51 PM EST up reply actions

Holy shit is that Ken Burns. Maybe that would explain Ken's love for baseball.

Jeff Zimmerman - Protecting the world from RBI's and Wins from my mom's guest house.

by Jeff Zimmerman on Nov 23, 2009 12:52 PM EST up reply actions

Mark Davis

That is all.

by pizzacutter on Nov 23, 2009 4:10 PM EST reply actions

Top 4 WAR = Top 4 IP

Not surprising.

"What ... 92 miles per hour?" Feldman scoffed. "That's not gas. Feliz throws gas."

by NorCalRangersFan on Nov 24, 2009 1:47 PM EST reply actions

Ah, yes, the year of the Ultimate Sportswriter Hypocrisy

The year that almost all of the writers produced a column noting that Nolan Ryan really deserves the Cy Young Award, while at least half of those didn’t vote for him at all, despite the best ERA among starters and as dominant a performance as has ever been seen in the NL.

by klhoughton on Nov 29, 2009 4:39 PM EST reply actions