Jacob de Grom and
Blake Snell took different paths to becoming baseball's 2018 Cy Young Award winners. The Mets ace was simply dominant -- despite meager offensive support, he set a record with 29 consecutive starts allowing three runs or less. (If you like numerology, he received 29 of 30 first place votes for the award.) His 1.70 ERA was remarkable in a year peppered by home runs. In the context of 2018, it was a Gibson-esque performance. Clearly, the voters weren't deterred by de Grom's 10-9 record; he passed the "eye test" with flying colors. In becoming the fourth Mets pitcher to win the Cy -- Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden and R.A. Dickey were the others -- de Grom symbolized dominance of modern statistics. As noted by MLB.com, de Grom won 10 games with the game's best ERA; while the White Sox's Lucas Giolito won 10 games with the worst ERA (6.13).
Snell enjoyed a breakout season in 2018. After showing flashes of brilliance the since his arrival in mid-season 2016, Snell posted a major league-high 21 victories -- and was the only other starting pitcher with an under-2 ERA -- as the Rays remained on the fringes of the wild card race. Most impressively, in 12 starts against the five American League team that made the post-season -- the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians, A's and Astros -- Snell went 9-2 with a 2.00 ERA. Five years younger than de Grom, his best baseball could well be ahead of him.
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My image of de Grom is from the Mets/Rockies game last May 18th; I caught Snell in action against the Yankees on July 29th, 2017.)
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