Sep 22, 2021; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) throws a pitch against the Baltimore Orioles during the third inning at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
29 of 30 voters from the Baseball Writers' Association of America agreed that Zack Wheeler and Chris Sale were the top two choices for the 2024 NL Cy Young award.
Phrased differently, 29 of 30 voters took their voting responsibility seriously. 29 voters understood that Cy Young voting can make or break a player's eventual Hall of Fame case or impact a player's contract incentives.
Voter number 30, Associated Press reporter David Brandt, did not understand the assignment.
shoutout to this dumb fuck who had Skenes 2nd and Wheeler 4th in the Cy Young voting. @davidbrandtAP
truly don't give a shit about these awards all that much, but why are people like this allowed to have a say.
Brandt responded with his "reasoning."
Hello fellow baseball enthusiasts! I was wondering why my feed was blowing up. Oh.
Here's my reasoning.
1. Sale - pretty obvious
2. Skenes - i thought what he did as a rookie was truly generational
3. Greene - .183 oba and highest WAR in NL
4. Wheeler - great season, all around https://t.co/SiAdDb5IEE
Oh. Thanks for explaining that in such detail, David. "Great season, all around."
Wheeler himself appears to have noticed the slight, using Brandt's words verbatim to comment on an MLB Instagram post.
ONE OF US! ONE OF US! Gotta love it.
Here are the vote totals for the candidates who finished in the top five:
Graphic via @MLBONFOX on twitterMost baseball observers expected Sale to take home the award. The Braves' ace won the NL's pitching triple crown with 18 wins, a 2.38 ERA, and 225 strikeouts.
Most observers also expected Wheeler to finish second. He nearly matched Sale in the triple crown categories with 16 wins, a 2.57 ERA, and 224 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Wheeler bested Sale in innings pitched (200 to Sale's 177.2) and WHIP (0.96 to Sale's 1.01), among certain other categories.
Pirates' pitcher Paul Skenes had a sensational rookie season but threw just 133 innings. He received more third-place votes than any other pitcher, but 29 of 30 voters disqualified him from top-two voting because of his innings total. Skenes won the NL Rookie of the Year award, which, conveniently, is an award entirely fucking dedicated to a player who does something "as a rookie" that is "truly generational."
.jpg)
© Brad Penner | 2024 Sep 28Reds' pitcher Hunter Greene is not featured in the graphic above, because 29 of 30 voters didn't place him in their top three, and 28 of 30 voters did not place him in their top five. But let's examine the case Mr. Brandt set forth:
- ".183 oba." OBA stands for opponents' batting average. Opponents batted .183 against Greene in 150.1 innings pitched. Wheeler, meanwhile, maintained a similarly impressive .192 OBA over fifty more innings. FIFTY.
- "Highest WAR in NL." WAR stands for Wins Above Replacement. It's a statistic that many baseball folks cite, few fully understand, and is best utilized in context with other numbers. Organizations/websites calculate WAR using different methodologies. Relevant here, baseballreference.com calculated Greene's WAR as 6.3 and Wheeler's as 6.1.
But if one is inclined to use WAR as their central argument in Greene vs. Wheeler, might I suggest looking at the (arguably more common) fangraphs.com version of the number? Because that website shows Wheeler with 5.4 WAR (second in the NL to Sale) and Greene with 3.8.
I mean, what are we doing here?
Wheeler's not the first player to get snubbed like this, and he won't be the last. Also, to be fair, the fourth-place vote didn't end up affecting much, given Sale's margin of victory.
But it could have! Wheeler knows all too well what down-ballot voting can do. He finished second to Corbin Burnes in 2021 NL Cy Young voting despite matching Burnes' 12 first-place votes.
2021 NL Cy Young voting results via mLB.comLook. We live in a nation where everyone can voice their opinions freely. And that's a beautiful thing.
Unfortunately, freedom ain't free. We pay the price when we are forced to entertain absolute dogshit opinions like David Brandt's. Wheeler actually showed a significant amount of restraint with his subtle Instagram jab. His ability to stay poised is part of his success, I suppose.
We are not all wired that way.
You are bad at what you do and you should feel bad.
