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Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers and Chris Sale of the Atlanta Braves had been the perfect pitchers in Main League Baseball throughout the 2024 season, they usually had been rewarded accordingly Wednesday.
Skubal took residence the American League Cy Younger award over fellow finalists Seth Lugo of the Kansas Metropolis Royals and Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians, whereas Sale received the Nationwide League Cy Younger over finalists Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Skubal received his in unanimous trend.
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Chris Sale secures his first profession Cy Younger Award in his first season in Atlanta!
He joins 4 Corridor of Famers and @Braves greats to win the award. pic.twitter.com/f6VQsuMTsG
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UNANIMOUS 🙌
Tarik Skubal received ALL 30 first place votes for AL Cy Young!! pic.twitter.com/IznhTMDdZo
There was an American League Central theme in the AL Cy Young race, which was fitting since three of the final four teams in the AL playoffs came from the division.
Skubal’s individual brilliance was a major reason the Tigers reached the postseason for the first time in a decade, as he finished with the AL Triple Crown for pitching with 18 wins, a 2.39 ERA and 228 strikeouts. He also posted a sparkling 0.92 WHIP and led the league with a 2.50 FIP and 170 ERA+, per Baseball Reference.
His capability to mix-and-match a fastball that hits triple digits with a set of pitches that features a changeup, slider and knuckle-curve made him almost unhittable and propelled the Tigers into October.
Skubal wasn’t the one one who was almost unhittable within the division, as Clase completed with an 0.61 ERA, 0.66 WHIP, 66 strikeouts and a league-best 47 saves in 74.1 innings this season for the Guardians.
Whereas he struggled within the American League Championship Collection loss to the New York Yankees, this can be a regular-season award. It’s a testomony to his particular person efficiency that he turned the primary reliever to be named a Cy Younger finalist since Francisco Rodríguez was in 2008.
Clase’s Guardians and Skubal’s Tigers had been joined within the postseason by Lugo and the Royals thanks largely to the veteran right-hander’s capability to anchor Kansas Metropolis’s workers.
He tallied a 3.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 181 strikeouts in 206.2 innings in his age-34 season whereas making his first profession All-Star Sport. After beforehand pitching for the New York Mets and San Diego Padres, he joined the Royals forward of the 2024 marketing campaign and instantly delivered within the American League even when he did not put up Triple Crown numbers like Skubal.
Sale did, although, on the Nationwide League aspect of issues.
The Braves’ ace led the NL in wins (18), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225) whereas additionally placing up a league-best 2.09 FIP and 174 ERA+ in 177.2 innings, per Baseball Reference. The eight-time All-Star was at his finest in his first season within the NL after beforehand suiting up for the Chicago White Sox and Boston Pink Sox.
Sadly for Atlanta, a again harm sidelined him for the ultimate week of the regular-season and the workforce’s NL Wild Card Collection loss to the Padres, however he nonetheless exceeded all practical expectations for 2024.
He wasn’t the one NL pitcher to make headlines, as Skenes lived as much as and exceeded the overwhelming hype in his rookie marketing campaign for the Pirates. Whereas he did not make his debut till Might 11 and pitched simply 133 innings, the flamethrower posted an 11-3 file with a 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 170 strikeouts.
Skenes figures to be the face of the franchise in Pittsburgh for years to come back and began off his profession in spectacular trend, ending third whereas incomes a second-place vote within the closing outcomes.
Wheeler has been beneath the highlight for for much longer and completed second in Cy Younger voting in 2021 and sixth in 20223 throughout earlier seasons for the Phillies. All he did in 2024 was tally a 2.57 ERA, league-best 0.96 WHIP and 224 strikeouts in 200 innings whereas serving to information his workforce to a division title.
All six finalists had been standouts all through the season, however solely two may take residence the awards. And that’s precisely what Skubal and Sale did.
