Seth Udinski, FISM News
On Wednesday night, Major League Baseball announced its Cy Young Award winners. The award is given each year to the MLB’s top pitchers voted on by representatives of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. It is named after CY Young, one of the first great pitchers of major league baseball’s modern era at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries.
This year’s winners of the prestigious award were Toronto Blue Jays’ ace Robbie Ray of the American League (AL) and Milwaukee Brewers’ pitcher Corbin Burnes of the National League (NL).
Ray was able to pull off a landslide victory in the AL while Burnes edged out Phillie pitcher Zach Wheeler in the closest vote in NL history. Burnes had a break-out season this year from the start, setting an MLB record for most strikeouts without a walk to start the season. He completed the season leading the majors in ERA and strikeouts per 9 innings. Ray also had a breakout season, leading the AL in ERA for the year after posting a massive 6.62 ERA just one year earlier.
On Tuesday the award for Coach of the Year was given out as well, with San Francisco coach Gabe Kapler winning the NL honor and Tampa Bay coach Kevin Cash taking home the AL award.
On Thursday night, Major League Baseball will announce its most coveted individual prize, the Most Valuable Player award for both the AL and NL.