The 2015 AL and NL Cy Young award winners are announced, and a pair of newbies are taking home hardware. Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros is the AL winner, while in the NL, Jake Arrieta claimed the award.
Keuchel pitched to a 2.48 ERA in 232 innings this season for Houston, striking out 216 and walking 51. The 27-year old was the AL runner-up in ERA while leading the league in innings pitched and ranking fifth in strikeouts. He’s the third Astro to win the award, following Mike Scott in 1986 and Roger Clemens in 2004. Keuchel received 22 first place votes and eight second place votes, collecting a total of 186 points.
The runner-up in the AL was David Price, who received eight first place votes, 21 second place votes, one third place vote, and 143 points. Sonny Gray of the A’s finished in third, picking up one second place vote, 24 third place votes, and three fourth place votes. Chris Sale of the White Sox came in fourth with 30 points, while the Rays’ Chris Archer logged 29 points to finish in fifth. Wade Davis finished sixth with ten points, Felix Hernandez came in seventh with nine points, and Keuchel’s Astros’ teammate Collin McHugh came in eighth with five points. The rest of the players to receive votes were Corey Kluber (four), Marco Estrada (three), Andrew Miller (three), Shawn Tolleson (three), Carlos Carrasco (two), and Dellin Betances (one).
LOS ANGELES, CA – AUGUST 30: Jake Arrieta #49 of the Chicago Cubs the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on August 30, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Arrieta pitched to a 1.77 ERA in 229 innings this season, punching out 236 and walking 48. The 29-year old led the National League with 22 wins, and his 1.77 ERA ranked second to Zack Greinke’s 1.66 mark. He also finished second in the NL in innings pitched, and third in strikeouts. He’s the first Cub to win the award since Greg Maddux in 1992. Arrieta received 17 first place votes, 11 second place votes, and two third place votes to finished with a total of 169 points.
The NL runner-up was Greinke, who earned ten first place votes, 17 second place votes, and three third place votes to finish with 147 points. Greinke’s teammate Clayton Kershaw, the NL winner in both 2013 and 2014, finished in third with three first place votes, two second place votes, one fourth place vote, and one fifth place vote, tallying 101 points in total. Gerrit Cole of the Pirates finished fourth with 40 points and the remaining two third place votes. Max Scherzer of the Nationals finished fifth with 32 points, and Madison Bumgarner of the Giants came in sixth with eight points. Jacob deGrom (seven), Mark Melancon (five), and John Lackey (one) filled out the voting.
