Wheeler finishes 2nd for NL Cy Young Award, again
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PHILADELPHIA -- Zack Wheeler expressed a desire this spring to finally win an NL Cy Young Award.
He came close again.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced its NL Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday night on MLB Network, with Wheeler finishing second to Braves left-hander Chris Sale, who received 26 of 30 first-place votes to finish with 198 points. Wheeler received four first-place votes and 25 second-place votes (130 points).
Sale and Wheeler were the only pitchers to be named on every ballot.
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It is the second time in four years that Wheeler finished second for NL Cy Young after he finished second to Milwaukee’s Corbin Burnes in 2021. Both pitchers received 12 first-place votes that year, but Burnes earned more overall points: 151-141. It was the closest vote for NL Cy Young since the vote expanded from three pitchers to five in 2010.
This year’s vote wasn’t as close, but Wheeler made his case with a strong finish to the 2024 regular season. He went 16-7 with 200 innings pitched, a 2.57 ERA, 224 strikeouts and 6.1 WAR per Baseball Reference. He led NL pitchers in WHIP (0.96), opponents’ batting average (.192), opponents’ on-base percentage (.253), opponents’ OPS (.581), opponents’ wOBA (.256), quality starts (26) and starts of six-plus innings (26). Wheeler trailed Sale by only 0.1 bWAR for the NL lead among pitchers. Sale led NL pitchers with 6.4 fWAR. Wheeler finished second with 5.4 fWAR.
Sale did not pitch the final two weeks of the season because of an injury, meaning Wheeler faced 85 more batters (787 vs. 702) and he threw 22 1/3 more innings than Sale (177 2/3 innings).
Still, Sale led NL pitchers in wins (18), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225). He is the ninth “Triple Crown” winner to win NL Cy Young, joining Sandy Koufax (1963, ‘65, ‘66), Steve Carlton (1972), Dwight Gooden (1985), Randy Johnson (2002), Jake Peavy (2007) and Clayton Kershaw (2011).
Wheeler has three top-six finishes for NL Cy Young in the past five seasons and has received at least one vote in four of his first five seasons with the Phillies.
Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez received two fifth-place votes to finish 10th. Right-hander Aaron Nola received one fifth-place vote to finish tied for 11th.