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One-on-one: Who will win the Cy Young Award?

Zack Greinke
Sammantha Dellaria

Despite having won the award in 2011, 2013 and 2014, Clayton Kershaw might not be the top candidate for the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the Cy Young award. Instead, Zack Greinke, a teammate of Kershaw’s, is making his own case to win the award.

With 30 starts and more than 207 innings pitched, Greinke has made an impressive argument to win the award in the National League. Greinke has an ERA of 1.65, which is 0.31 lower than Jake Arrieta, who’s second with a 1.96 ERA. Greinke has allowed only 40 runs and has 18 wins on the year.

Greinke has the ability to zone out any distractions when he takes the mound and delivers unpredictable pitches for his opponents. The relationship between Greinke and Yasmani Grandal, the Dodgers’ catcher, shows a great balance of understanding pitch to pitch, making them a powerful duo.

Greinke’s biggest competition for the award in the NL will be Kershaw and Chicago Cubs’ pitcher Jake Arrieta. The following games prior to the end of the second half of the season could potentially impact the rankings for these top candidates.

However, Greinke has the experience and ability to win the award and also the attitude to maintain his first place stance in the lead for the Cy Young.


Jake Arrietta

Chris Kwiecinski

I don’t think there’s been a season with pitching this marvelous recently.

Yeah, Kershaw is a monster on the mound, but he’s being outdone by his teammate Zack Greinke, whose 2015 campaign has been nothing short of exceptional.

A below 2.00 ERA and over 180 strikeouts is a pretty substantial year, but the Cy Young goes to someone more deserving than Greinke.

Jake Arrieta has done the seemingly impossible for Chicago Cubs fans, and that’s put them in a position to get into the playoffs. That in and of itself is pretty incredible.

But, sentimental reasons aside, Arrieta leads the league in wins with 20, while Greinke only has 18. Also, Greinke might post a 1.65 ERA, but Arrieta has a 1.96 ERA, which is phenomenal.

Arrieta and Greinke are the only ones with sub 2.00 ERAs, which is the first time the MLB has had such a feat since 1985, but Arrieta is the better pitcher.

Arrieta loses the ERA battle, sure, but his season has been exceptional.

His 20 wins, 209 strikeouts and no-hitter, against Greinke’s team no less, propel him past the Dodgers’ pitcher and his counterpart for the NL Cy Young.

Arrieta has also seemingly become the ace of the Cubs, which is a switch from its $155 million man Jon Lester.

Who does that? The Cy Young winner, that’s who.

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