Chris Sale won the 2024 National League Cy Young back on November 20th, the first of his MLB career. Zack Wheeler finished 2nd in voting for the 2nd time in red pinstripes. If you take all of the numbers into consideration, I think this race was way too lopsided. Wheeler had an incredible 2024 season:

  • 16-7
  • 32 Starts
  • 2.57 ERA
  • 6.1 WAR
  • 0.96 WHIP
  • 200 IP
  • 158 ERA+
  • 10.1 SO9

I get it. If a guy like Chris Sale, a veteran in this league, wins the Triple Crown and is looking for his first Cy Young Award, he’s going to get it. He had an unbelievable season when he was on the field. Did he miss his last two starts of the Braves’ playoff push? Yes. But for the games that he was out there, he was awesome.

The issue I have with this race was David Brandt of the Associated Press. Brandt had Wheeler 4th on his ballot. He had some lousy explanation about stats this and stats that, and had Reds started Hunter Greene third:

I didn’t know that you’re only supposed to look at two stats when you cast a Cy Young vote, but I figure he should probably look at the other 8 that Wheeler beat him in as well? Eh, what do I know.

But according to Brandt, Wheeler had a “great season, all around.”


Major League Baseball posted Wheeler’s 2024 stats on Instagram a few days ago, and Wheeler wanted to let everyone know that he had a “great season, all around.”

If you have worked to get a Cy Young vote, and your explanation for the best pitcher in all of Major League Baseball is “great season, all around,” we’ve got some major issues.