My 2022 Cy Young ballots

 Welcome to the MVP Chase, where I look for, or chase, the best objective criteria to determine sports greatness without personal subjective bias.

Today's topic: My 2022 Cy Young Award ballots

 

The Cy Young is not like Most Valuable Player award. The MVP goes to the player who, individually, helps their team be successful. (See my 2022 ballots.)

The Cy Young goes to the best pitcher, regardless of his team's success. And "best pitcher" is a combination of quantity (number of innings pitched) and quality. For quality, I look at WHIP: walks plus hits per innings pitched.

If I had official Cy Young ballots, Justin Verlander would get the nod in the American League due to his outstanding 0.829 WHIP. (He was 17th in innings pitched.) In the National League, Sandy Alcantara gets my first place vote for pitching 23 more innings than anyone else while also ranking high (6th) in WHIP.

My American League Ballot

1. Justin Verlander, Astros 

2. Triston McKenzie, Guardians

3. Gerrit Cole, Yankees

4. Alec Manoah, Blue Jays

5. Shane Bieber, Guardians

My National League Ballot

1. Sandy Alcantara, Marlins

2. Aaron Nola, Phillies

3. Corbin Burnes, Cardinals

4. Yu Darvish, Padres

5. Zac Gallen, Diamondbacks

James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe), JL Cells (subscribe), Daily Miracles (subscribe), and The Daily Bible Chapter (subscribe). Thanks for your subscriptions and support! You may contact James for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.