Major League Baseball continued to handout awards on Wednesday. This time it was the American League and National League Cy Young Awards. The American League Cy Young Award winner was Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal of Hayward, California, and the National League Cy Young Award winner was Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale of Lakeland, Florida. It is the first Cy Young Awards for Sale and Skubal. Sale was second in the Cy Young voting in 2017 while with the Boston Red Sox. The only pitcher who received more votes that year was Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians.
Interestingly, both Sale and Skubal are southpaws. This is only the third year ever that lefthanders have won the American League and National League Cy Young in the same year according to Sam Connon of Sports Illustrated. In 1977 the winners were Steve Carlton of the Philadelphia Phillies and Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees. In 2002, the winners were Randy Johnson of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Barry Zito of the Oakland Athletics.
Tarik Skubal
Skubal won the American League triple crown for pitchers this past season. He had 18 wins, 228 strikeouts, and an earned run average of 2.39. Skubal actually led Major League Baseball in wins and strikeouts. In 31 games and 192 innings pitched, he gave up 142 hits, 51 earned runs, 15 home runs and 35 walks to go along with a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 0.92.
This is the fifth time a Tigers starting pitcher has won the American League Cy Young Award. He follows Denny McLain of Markham, Illinois (1968 and 1969), Willie Hernandez of Aguada, Puerto Rico (1984), Justin Verlander of Manakin Sabot, Virginia (2011), and Max Scherzer of Chesterfield, Missouri (2013).
Chris Sale
Like Skubal, Sale also won the triple crown. He led the National League with 18 wins, 225 strikeouts and an earned run average of 2.38. Sale led Major League Baseball in wins and earned run average. In 29 games and 177 2/3 innings pitched, he gave up 141 hits, 47 earned runs, nine home runs and 39 walks to go along with a WHIP of 1.01.
Sale is the fourth Braves pitcher to win the National League Cy Young Award. He follows Tom Glavine of Concord, Massachusetts (1991 and 1998), Greg Maddux of San Angelo, Texas (1993, 1994, and 1995), and John Smoltz of Warren, Michigan (1996).
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