Top 30 Cy Young Award Winners of all-time
By Jason Evans
20. Roger Clemens 1998
20 wins
271 strikeouts
8.2 WAR
Late 1990’s and early 2000’s baseball was fun no? A lot of scoring. Fans were coming back to the game. There were homers flying all over ballparks in America. Of course we found out later that there were some artificial reasons for all that fun. Even with that, there were some great pitching performances in that era.
One of them, was Roger Clemens dominant 1998 season for the Toronto Blue Jays. The Blue Jays missed the playoffs by four games for the Wild Card spot. One of the reasons was the performance of Clemens that season who many people thought was done just a few seasons earlier with the Red Sox.
Clemens was second in the league in WAR at 8.2. His 20 wins tied him for first in the league. His 2.65 ERA was also first in the league and lead the league in K/9 rate with 10.4
Clemens also led the AL in FIP that year at 2.65. That’s right, his ERA equaled his FIP which doesn’t happen too often.
In a season that was dominated by offense, Clemens pitching performance may have been one of his best.
The 1998 Yankees may have been the American League’s best team, but Clemens was the best pitcher. The next year, Clemens found himself on the Yankees and would pitch through 2007 and won two more Cy Young Awards. 1998 was one of his best, but he had an even better season in his career.