Last night Blake Snell was awarded the 2018 Cy Young, and rightfully so. You can find all our coverage here;
- Blake Snell wins AL Cy Young
- Why Blake Snell won the Cy Young award
- Reactions to Blake Snell winning the Cy Young award
It’s hard to capture just how historic Snell’s season was across the articles written thus far, so before we get into the news and links, here’s some more stats to back up just how elite Snell had been in 2018:
Fun Facts from the Rays
- Snell went 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA (180.2-IP, 38-ER) and 221 strikeouts over 31 starts last season, leading the AL outright and setting club records in both wins and ERA.
- He becomes the youngest pitcher to win a Cy Young Award since Clayton Kershaw (25) of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013, and the youngest in the AL since Félix Hernández (24) of the Seattle Mariners in 2010.
- Snell was the majors’ youngest 21-game winner since Kershaw in 2011 and the AL’s youngest since Barry Zito of the Oakland Athletics in 2002.
- In the live ball era (since 1920), only three other pitchers age 25 or younger have matched his combination of wins and a ERA: Dwight Gooden (24 wins, 1.53 ERA) of the New York Mets in 1985, Vida Blue (24 wins, 1.82 ERA) of the Athletics in 1971 and Hal Newhouser (25 wins, 1.81 ERA) of the Detroit Tigers in 1945.
- In addition to leading the AL in wins and ERA, Snell led the AL with a .178 opponents’ average, ranked second with a 0.97 WHIP, third with 0.80 home runs per nine innings and fourth with 11.01 strikeouts per nine innings. His .178 opponents’ average was the third-lowest in the AL in the DH era, behind Martínez (.167) in 2000 and Nolan Ryan (.172) of the Texas Rangers in 1991. Furthermore, Snell limited opponents to a .088 average (10-for-114) with runners in scoring position, the lowest for an AL pitcher in the DH era, ahead of Martínez (.133) in 2000.
- Snell yielded two runs or fewer in 27 of his 31 starts, most ever by an AL pitcher in the DH era, ahead of Guidry (26) in 1978. He yielded one run or fewer in 21 starts, most by an AL non-opener in the DH era ahead of Clemens (20) in 1997.
- Snell went 10-1 in 14 starts at home with a 1.27 ERA (85-IP, 12-ER)—the lowest home ERA by an AL pitcher since Ryan (1.07) of the California Angels in 1972. He yielded one earned run or fewer in 14 consecutive home starts from September 12, 2017 through August 26, 2018, the longest such streak in the majors since 1913—when earned runs were officially kept in both leagues, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
- Snell made the AL All-Star Team roster for the first time in his career and was named the AL Pitcher of the Month for both August and September, the youngest pitcher in either league to win back-to-back awards since Johan Santana (July, August, September) of the Minnesota Twins in 2004. He went 4-0 with a 1.04 ERA (26-IP, 3-ER) in five starts in August and 5-0 with a 1.26 ERA (35.2-IP, 5-ER) in six starts in September.
- Only two pitchers have won the AL Cy Young and appeared in fewer career games than Snell at the time of their award: Clemens (69 games, 68 starts) in 1986 and Blue (57 games, 49 starts) in 1971.