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Betting Guide
The best pitcher award in baseball is called the Cy Young award and it is one of the hardest to predict heading into each season. It’s easy to spot who the best pitchers for the year are, sure, but this award relies on health so much and pitchers are so prone to injury that it can be hard deciding which one of those great pitchers can win the award.
The difficulty of picking the winner despite knowing who the best pitchers in the game are, is one of the most exciting things about this bet. Clayton Kershaw is the best pitcher in the world, but is he going to win the Cy Young? You just never know and because you never know, you can get some great odds on these bets which make them very intriguing.
We are going to go through how to bet on the Cy Young award today as well as where to bet on it and our own strategy for betting on it.
Where To Bet MLB Cy Young Award winners:
America: Bovada is one of the best sportsbook for betting the MLB Cy Young award winner. They are one of the top sites for MLB Futures.
Canada: Sports Interaction will post MLB Cy Young Award winner odds during the regular season and update the odds throughout the season.
Everywhere Else: William Hill is one of the better overseas sites for betting on American sports and baseball is no different. Cy Young odds can be found here.
What is MLB Cy Young Award Betting?
The Cy Young is an annual award given to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball – one in the American League and one in the National League. The awards are voted on by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America with each writer voting for five pitchers with them weighted towards the top.
Sportsbooks put up odds on the pitchers who should perform the best with the odds weighted towards the favorite. For instance, a player like Max Scherzer (three time winner) might be +200 while his teammate Stephen Strasburg, who has never won, will be a bigger underdog at +1400.
Common MLB Cy Young Award Winner Questions:
Is a reliever a good bet to win Cy Young?
I would say no. Since 1992 when Dennis Eckersley won the award, there has only been one reliever to win the award. Eric Gagne’s 2003 was a historic season as he went 55 for 55 in saves and had 1.20 ERA and 137 srikeouts in just 82.3 innings.
Since then, writers have learned that a starter is something far more valuable than a reliever and have shifted their voting trends to honor the best starter. I am not saying it will never happen again, but it would likely require someone topping that Gagne season to do it. No easy task and I’m going with the starters.
Do Cy Young winners repeat a lot?
Sandy Koufax was the first to do it in 1965 and 1966. He also won it in 1963 meaning he won it in three out of four seasons. This is perhaps most impressive because it came at a time before they awarded a Cy Young for each league and instead awarded it for the MLB as a whole.
The next pitcher to go back-to-back was Roger Clemens who did it in 1986 and 1987 for the Boston Red Sox. He would also win the American League MVP in 1986 as well. Clemens would win again in 1991 before going back-to-back again in 1997 and 1998. He would go on to win the award in 2001 and 2004. Clemens’ seven wins are the most in history.
The first pitcher in the National League (post-Koufax) to go back-to-back was Greg Maddux who did it in 1992 and 1993, and then again in 1994 and 1995. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
You would think that would be a record, but Randy Johnson also went back-to-back-to-back-to-back from 1999 to 2002 for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Pedro Martinez won two straight in 1999 and 2000, Tim Lincecum went back-to-back in 2008 and 2009, Clayton Kershaw went back-to-back in 2013 and 2014, Max Scherzer went back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, and Jacob deGrom went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.
The Cy Young award sees repeat winners quite often and, health permitting, it can be a good bet to simply bet on last year’s winner. The best pitchers in baseball from the previous year have a good chance to be the best pitchers in baseball the next season as well. Who knew?
How To Bet MLB Cy Young Award Winner:
Bovada: Go to the sportsbook section and click “Baseball” then “MLB” then “Futures”. Cy Young odds should be listed here when available.
Sports Interaction: On the Sports sidebar click “Baseball” and then “MLB Props”. The Cy Young award winner odds will be listed here when available.
William Hill: After entering the sportsbook, find the “Baseball” link and click that. MLB Specials/Futures will be under that category with Cy Young odds within.
MLB Cy Young Award Winner Betting Strategy:
Great pitchers on great teams. That’s what I am looking for here. Sure, you get a Felix Hernandez type every now and then who puts up a great season on a bad team, but for the most part the winner of this award is a great pitcher on a great team.
I’m looking for a team projected in the high 90s of wins which should lead their ace to get around 20 wins. As much as baseball has changed over the past several years with advanced analytics and all that, the winner of the Cy Young is still typically a 20-game winner. Six of the past ten in the NL and the AL.
The National League has been slightly more predictable over the past couple of years as the offensive environment isn’t as tough as the American League, but that is more just personal preference than anything.
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