Red Sox ace Chris Sale among AL Cy Young finalists

Boston Red Sox ace Chris Sale has been named one of the three finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. How does he stack up against the competition?

Major League Baseball has revealed the ballot of the three finalists for the American League Cy Young Award, which includes Boston Red Sox left-handed pitcher Chris Sale.

Joining Sale among the finalists is Cleveland Indians right-hander Corey Kluber and New York Yankees right-hander Luis Severino.

The Cy Young Award is annually given to the best pitcher in each league. The award is voted on by a panel of members of the Baseball Writer’s Association of America with one representative for each team.

Since 2010, the writers ranked five pitchers in each league and used a formula to weight votes based on how high the pitcher’s appeared on each ballot. The process has been changed this year to limit voting to a ballot that includes three finalists.

Last year the award went to Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello, who narrowly edged out Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander by a score of 137 – 132. Kluber finished fourth on the ballot, while Sale was sixth. The results will be a bit different this year with only three finalists to vote for, yet we could still see another tight race.

How does Sale stack up against the competition? Let’s take a look at the contenders.

Luis Severino

This year’s AL Cy Young ballot boils down to a two-man race, but since three are required for the list of finalists we have Severino included.

That’s not to say that Severino isn’t worthy of some consideration. The young Yankees ace is coming off an outstanding breakout year, ranking third in the league with a 2.98 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. He was fourth in the AL with 230 strikeouts and his 5.3 WAR ranked fifth among AL pitchers.

After showing flashes of brilliance in an abbreviated rookie year in 2015, Severino struggled with inconsistency the following season, bouncing back and forth between the Yankees rotation and bullpen. He ended with an underwhelming 5.83 ERA in 22 appearances, including 11 starts.

The 23-year got back on track with a career year in 2017, making his first All-Star appearance while setting career-highs in virtually every category. Severino dramatically lowered his walk rate to 2.4 BB/9 and increased his strikeout rate to an elite 10.7 K/9. Combine that with his 3.08 FIP and we can see that his improved ERA is no fluke.

Severino clearly has a bright future as one of the top pitchers in the league. His inclusion on the ballot is warranted, but he remains a tier below the top two aces on this list – at least for now.

Chris Sale

Through the first four months of the season, it appeared that Sale would run away with this award. He was even garnering attention in the MVP debate. He entered the break with a 2.75 ERA and was named the AL starter for this year’s All-Star Game.

Once the calendar flipped to August we began to see some signs of Sale unraveling. While he still mixed in some dominant outings to prove he hadn’t completely lost it, there was an uncharacteristic number of rough outings that torpedoed his hold on the Cy Young race.

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Sale was lit up twice by a Cleveland Indians team that seems to have his number, surrendering 13 runs over two starts against the Tribe in August. He also gave up five runs over five innings in his final start of the regular season to a Toronto Blue Jays team he had historically dominated. Not the way the Red Sox wanted to send their ace into the postseason.

Despite a rocky finish, Sale still finished among the top two in the league in virtually every category. He led the majors with 308 strikeouts and a 12.93 K/9, while making a valiant run at Pedro Martinez‘ single-season franchise strikeout record.

Sale ranked second in the league with a 2.90 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and 6.0 pitching WAR. His 17 wins were fourth in the league and only one short of the league-leading total.

While he’s never won a Cy Young before, Sale has finished within the top-six on the ballot in each of the last five seasons. The closest he came was a third-place finish in 2014. Sale should get a step closer by finishing second, but ultimately his second-half fade will cost him the hardware.