The NL Cy Young race is all but gone as Chris Sale turned in another excellent performance against the Reds yesterday, giving only two runs in five innings. It was his league-leading 18th win, as well as his 18th consecutive start in which he pitched at least five innings and allowed two earned runs or fewer. Over that time, Sale has a 1.96 ERA and an even better 1.83 FIP.
He’s been incredible, leading Major League Baseball in wins, ERA, and strikeouts while attempting to become the first pitcher to win the Triple Crown since Clayton Kershaw more than a decade ago.
After four seasons marred by injuries, Sale has remained healthy and thrown better than ever. He is 18-3, the greatest record in the MLB.In addition to his MLB-leading 2.38 ERA and 225 strikeouts, he has an 850 win %, 175 ERA+, 2.09 FIP, 0.5 HR/9, and 11.4 SO/9.
Chris Sale leads MLB with 18 wins.
Chris Sale leads MLB with a 2.38 ERA.
Chris Sale leads MLB with 225 strikeouts.One guy leading MLB in all 3 categories is amazing. pic.twitter.com/W4Pvb0bZT5
— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) September 19, 2024
He’s been outstanding and will eventually receive MVP votes in addition to his first Cy Young award, but that isn’t everyone’s opinion. Bryce Harper believes that his colleague Zack Wheeler, rather than Chris Sale, deserves the Cy Young award.
Wheeler has one of the greatest arms in baseball. He has a remarkable 16-6 record, 2.56 ERA, and 0.954 WHIP, and if you look at year-to-year consistency, he could be the finest pitcher in baseball over the last half-decade. Unfortunately for Wheeler and Harper, this is not how the award works.
Bryce Harper on Zack Wheeler:
"He's the Cy Young. I don't care what anybody says. I don't care what the numbers look like. He's the Cy Young. He's the best in baseball, man" pic.twitter.com/AddCiRmjk1
— Nick Piccone (@_piccone) September 18, 2024
If that were the case, Chris Sale would already have several Cy Young trophies, having been in the top six for the award in seven consecutive seasons from 2012 to 2018. The award is given to the pitcher who has been the most dominant in the game during the season, and there will be no pitcher who can compete with Chris Sale in 2024.
Even if you take Harper’s approach of not worrying about the numbers and instead focusing on pitching, Sale is still better. There is also a statistic for that. It’s known as FIP, or fielding independent pitching.
FIP focuses only on the events over which a pitcher has the most control: strikeouts, walks, hits by pitch, and home runs. It completely removes balls in play, which pitchers rarely have control over. Sale’s is an MLB-best 2.02, lower than his 2.35 ERA, whereas Wheeler’s is 3.15, significantly higher than his 2.56 ERA.
Of then, what else can you expect from Bryce Harper? He’s going to bat for his colleague, but let’s not pretend that there’s been a greater pitcher in baseball than Chris Sale this season.
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