Jake Arrieta from the Chicago Cubs won the honor in the National League, while Dallas Keuchel from the Houston Astros won the honor for the American League.
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He led the league in wins, going 20-8 and helping Houston reach the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
Besides drawing the starting assignment in his first All-Star Game appearance, Keuchel became the undisputed staff ace of an Astros team that surprised observers by leading earning a wild-card spot in the playoffs. The right-hander went 0-3 with a disastrous 6.43 ERA over five starts in the month. He acknowledged the super stats piled up by his Los Angeles rivals spurred him.
In the TBOH staff voting, Greinke received votes from three of our six staff writers.
Kershaw almost achieved that, with three first-place votes (from Baggarly, Nick Groke of the Denver Post, and Ryan Lawrence of the Philadelphia Daily News), two second-place votes and 23 third-place votes.
A key player in the Cubs’ fantastic 2015 season, he went 22-6 in 33 starts with a 1.77 earned run average (ERA).
Keuchel, who said before the award was handed out that the stat he was most proud of was the Astros’ 86 wins, was typically deferential about winning.
“There was a few anxiety involved”, Arrieta said on a conference call.
McHugh appeared to struggle with his command mightily to start the season, but settled down the second half of the season.
“I see the numbers on TV, people bring it up to me quite a bit”, he said.
Arrieta’s award continues an unbelievable awards run for the Cubs in the offseason.
His 2015 season put him among the top pitchers in major league baseball and he was rewarded with the American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night.
Arrieta also paid tribute to his Cubs team mate Kris Bryant, victor of the NL Rookie of the Year award on Monday, and Cubs manager Joe Maddon, who was named NL Manager of the Year on Tuesday.
Arrieta had wonderful dominance, but not for an entire season.
There’s only one more Major League Baseball award to hand out, and that’s MVP. Greinke’s ERA bettered every other pitcher in the majors since Greg Maddux posted a 1.63 mark for the Atlanta Braves in 1995. Greinke went 19-3, fanned 200 and had a scoreless streak of 452/3 innings.
I don’t think so, but that’s a long way from saying voters blew the 2015 National League Cy Young Award.
The righty had a 4.21 ERA over his first seven seasons, and only turned in his 1960 performance after a strong 18-9, 2.98 season in 1959.
Arrieta finished ninth in the NL Cy Young race last season.
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The 27-year-old ranked first in a bevy of pitching categories in the AL, including wins and innings.
