Plus Some Stadium Drama Updates
Stadium Drama
Just a few updates on the stadium drama front. Oregon lawmakers passed an $800m stadium finance bill to hopefully go land an MLB franchise in Portland. The bill is head to the desk of Governor Tina Kotek, who is expected to sign it. Arizona is also currently in the process of getting something done on Chase Field stadium upgrades, and the Arizona state senate could vote on a bill soon. Meanwhile in Missouri, Governor Mike Kehoe actually signed a stadium funding bill into law. The Royals are expected to make a decision on their future home by the end of the month, as expected, since the funding deal in Kansas expires at the end of the month.
Al Cy Young Frontrunners
After winning the AL Cy Young award last year, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise to see the Detroit Tigers Tarik Skubal is once again one of the frontrunner for the award again this year. After a “bad” start today where he gave up a pair of earned runs, he’s still sporting an impressive 2.06 ERA, 1.91 FIP, and 117 strikeouts in his 15 starts and 96 innings pitched this year, and he is either second or first in WAR depending on which version you use, with only Paul Skenes ranking above him in bWAR. He’s also the only pitcher in MLB this year with a complete game shutout, in an era where that’s a true rarity, that should count for something. (I’d mention ERA+, but I do not have what it is after today’s start, prior to his start it was 198)
If we’re just looking at the traditional metrics, then Yankees Max Fried might be the more obvious frontrunner instead. Fried leads the league with a 9-2 record and his 1.89 ERA is just .04 away from leading the league. If we’re looking at advance metrics though, well, Fried still has a good argument, considering his 3.5 bW.AR is third in the league. Other metrics like his 2.89 FIP and 211 ERA+ add to his solid case
Another pitcher in the running is Boston Red Sox Garret Crochet. After pitching for one of the literal worst teams ever last year (the Chicago White Sox), Crochet has broken out with a 2.20 ERA, 2.59 FIP, 187 ERA,+ and 3.2 bWAR. He might not be as impressive as Skubal or Fried, but his 125 strikeouts and 102.1 innings pitched lead all of MLB. Finally, there’s Houston’s Hunter Brown, who leads MLB with a 212 ERA+, is second in the league with a 1.88 ERA, and his 3.2 bWAR is tied with Crochet for 4th in bWAR.
National League Cy Young Frontrunners
Now that Shohei Ohtani is back on the mound and pitching in addition to hitting, I think it’s obvious who the current frontrunner for the NL Cy Young Award is, and no further discussion needed.
In reality, the NL frontrunner is Paul Skenes, who currently leads all of MLB with a 1.85 ERA and 236 ERA+ and 4.1 bWAR. (The latter two figure doesn’t include today’s start, but I’d imagine that his WAR will go up further while that ERA+ will tick slightly down). The only other National League pitcher in the argument is the Nationals MacKenzie Gore, but he’s a full win behind Skenes with 3.1 bWAR, and his 2.89 ERA and 137 ERA+ aren’t nearly as shiny as Skenes, though he does lead the NL with 119 strikeouts though