New York (AFP) – Atlanta’s Chris Sale and Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, who swept 2024 Triple Crown statistical titles, captured Major League Baseball’s Cy Young awards on Wednesday as the top pitchers in their league. Sale, a 35-year-old US left-hander, took the National League honor after leading the NL with 18 wins, 225 strikeouts, and a 2.38 earned-run average (ERA) over 177 2/3 innings.
“It means a lot,” Sale said. “It’s a special night.” It was the same for Skubal, who took the American League award on his 28th birthday after a Triple Crown campaign that saw him lead the AL with 18 wins, 228 strikeouts, and a 2.39 ERA. Skubal was a unanimous choice of all 30 voters in a media panel, with Kansas City’s Seth Lugo second.
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“It’s pretty special,” Skubal said. “All the hard work, all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes, moments like this make it extremely worth it.” This was only the second season in a century where MLB pitchers from each league won the Triple Crown of wins, strikeouts, and ERA after 2011, when Detroit’s Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers each did it. No Triple Crown winner has ever failed to win the Cy Young.
Sale had 198 points, including 26 first-place votes from a media panel, to 130 points for runner-up Zack Wheeler of Philadelphia. Sale was four strikeouts shy of taking the first MLB Triple Crown in a full season since Johan Santana in 2006, but instead became the first pitcher to win the NL Triple Crown in a non-shortened season since the Dodgers’ Kershaw in 2011.
In his first healthy season since 2018, when he won a World Series with Boston, Sale won the NL Gold Glove for fielding by pitchers and also was named the NL Comeback Player of the Year. He missed the 2020 season after Tommy John tendon replacement surgery and battled a shoulder injury last year before being traded to Atlanta in December.
“It wasn’t just me rolling out there and throwing a baseball,” Sale said. “The last few years were tough. To go through what I went through and have the support I had, just very thankful.” Skubal sparked the Tigers to their first winning season since 2016 and first playoff berth since 2014.
“It was a ton of fun to be a part of,” Skubal said. “Experience will help our club going forward. It’s only up from there.” His 18 wins were the most by a Tigers pitcher since Max Scherzer won 18 in 2014, and his ERA was the lowest by a qualified Tigers starter since rookie Mark Fidrych in 1976. Skubal kept opponents to two or fewer runs in 24 of his 31 starts.
© 2024 AFP
