LOS ANGELES – In what was baseball's equivalent of a photo finish, the Los Angeles Dodgers one-two punch of Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw finished second and third behind Chicago Cubs ace Jake Arrieta for the NL Cy Young Award on Wednesday.
No one can argue that Arrieta was not deserving of the award, but for perhaps the first time since 1967, all three finalists for the prize would have won the award in any other year other than 2015. Therefore, Kershaw and Greinke will go down as two pitchers who had two of the greatest seasons in MLB history, and did NOT win the Cy Young.
Kershaw is a three-time NL Cy Young Award winner and could have easily made it four straight if not for a bizarre 2012 that saw knuckleballer R.A. Dickey steal the trophy from the Dodgers southpaw.
In 2015, Kershaw led the league in complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, strikeouts, FIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio. He had an ERA of 2.13, which in any other year would be good for best in the league, but in 2015, he was third behind Greinke and Arrieta. He was third in WHIP, and posted the worst record of all three finalists at 16-7. However, Kershaw had over 300 strikeouts, a milestone that nobody in any league accomplished this year, and hasn't since 2002 when both Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson accomplished the feat. Needless to say, Kershaw could have easily taken home his third straight trophy.
Greinke probably should have won the award. He was the most consistent player from start to finish, and had the edge over Arrieta in most statistical categories that matter for a pitcher. Greinke did not allow a single run in 11 of his 32 starts in 2015. At one point, he had a stretch of 45 2/3 scoreless innings, one of the best streaks in MLB history.
Greinke also had less losses than Arrieta, finishing the season 19-3, a lower ERA at 1.66 (the lowest since 1967) and the best WHIP at 0.84. He did not have a no-hitter like Arrieta, nor did his team reach the NLCS and despite a great second half to the season, it was not as great as the Cub's ace who may have had the best second half of a season in the history of the game, going 16-1 with a 0.75 ERA.
Yet for some strange reason, it still feels like Greinke not winning the award is a travesty, or somehow doesn't feel right after witnessing the season he had first hand from Game 1 to Game 162. Greinke only lost to Arrieta by 22 points, a thin margin in retrospect. Arrieta had 17 first-place votes, to Greinke's 11, enough to put him over the top. It's unfortunate, but at least Greinke has won the award before (2009 with Kansas City), and can rest assured that he had one of the single greatest seasons by a pitcher in MLB history NOT to win the Cy Young award.
