Da Windy City Staff Predictions for the 2019 MLB Season
By Jason Parini
NL & AL Cy Young Awards
Let’s move onto the NL and AL Cy Young Awards.
If you ask Da Windy City staff, Boston Red Sox World Series champion Chris Sale will finally earn his first Cy Young Award in 2019.
Sale really didn’t have much competition in the voting process, garnering eight of eleven possible votes. Other vote-getters included newly acquired New York Yankee James Paxton, Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell and Cleveland Indians starter Trevor Bauer (assuming he isn’t taken out by a drone again).
light. Related Story. Top White Sox storylines for 2019
The National League was much more divided, though there was a clear favorite in three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals. Only one other starter earned more than one vote, with that being Aaron Nola of the Philadelphia Phillies. Nola finished third in NL Cy Young voting in 2018.
Other voters included Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jon Lester of the Chicago Cubs, and New York Mets starters Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom.
deGrom won the NL Cy Young by a wide margin in 2018 and starts the season fresh off of a $137.5 million extension.
It’s worth noting that Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw has already struggled with injuries this spring and will not be the Dodgers starter on Opening Day since 2010.