Chicago White Sox ace pitcher Dylan Cease is having a fantastic season this year. He has 5.8 baseball-reference WAR this year to date which is not only first among American League pitchers but 4th among AL players overall.
This is especially impressive when considering he entered the season with roughly only 3 career WAR. He has certainly come a long way in his development.
Dylan’s season stat line is 14-6 with a 2.06 ERA and 206 strikeouts in 162 innings. He’s been slowly improving as a pitcher over the years but 2022 is the year he has officially broken out. Because of his dominant performance, Dylan Cease should win the Cy Young Award.
Cease has been a little bit shy of accolades this year. He was snubbed from the AL All-Star team without much of a good reason. He nearly pitched a no-hitter against Minnesota but fell one out short by giving up a single in the 9th inning. He still got the complete game shutout.
Dylan Cease deserves to win the American League Cy Young Award this year.
After falling short of having these accolades under his belt, it’s about time Cease got the recognition he deserves by winning that coveted American League Cy Young Award as he’s been the best pitcher this season.
Future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander (16-3, 1.84 ERA) was the favorite at one point but injuries have limited him to only 24 starts while Dylan Cease has made 28 starts. Henceforth, Cease leads Verlander in WAR, 5.8 to 4.7.
Availability is part of the equation, so while Verlander was the favorite before the injury, Cease has pitched really well during his absence and passed him up to be the AL favorite. Verlander is set to return sometime in the next week and could still close the gap.
While it is fair to hope that Verlander does return and continues his march towards 300 career wins (he has 242 right now), Verlander has already won 2 Cy Young Awards and doesn’t need another one. Cease has yet to earn any hardware in his young career but he should this year.
The only pitchers to win the Cy Young in Chicago White Sox history are Lamarr Hoyt in 1983 and Jack McDowell in 1993. Hopefully, the White Sox do what they did those years and win the division in addition to the Cy Young award.