The National League Cy Young race has shifted in the past month. Who has fallen out and who has jumped into the early-season race?
*All stats as of May 27, 2018. All NL ranks unless said otherwise.
Last month, the first edition of this series featured Luis Castillo, the Cincinnati Reds’ young, hard throwing right hander, as the early-season Cy Young leader. Behind him was another right-handed thrower, German Marquez of the Colorado Rockies.
Third was Patrick Corbin of the Washington Nationals, fourth was Joe Musgrove of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves held the fifth spot.
A lot has changed since then. Some of those pitchers have continued to pitch at a Cy Young level, and others have fallen back. At the same time, a few pitchers have come out of nowhere and have raised their stock value immensely over the past month.
Most teams have played just over 50 games so far. Meaning, many starting pitchers have gotten around 10-12 starts. That’s not a small sample size anymore, so these numbers should be taken more seriously.
There are a few pitchers with seven wins, which leads the NL. Currently, only one pitcher, Max Scherzer, has over 100 strikeouts. Six starters have an ERA under three, and one has an ERA under two.
Who made the cut? Here’s the five pitchers leading the NL Cy Young race as May ends.