Tampa Bay Rays’ David Price wins AL Cy Young Award – MLB Update
Tampa Bay Rays’ starting pitcher David Price claimed the American League Cy Young Award on Wednesday. In one of the closest voting ever, Price edged Detroit Tigers’ ace Justin Verlander by only four points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association
of America.
It seems one game decided the winner of the American League Cy Young Award. Tigers right handed starting pitcher Verlander took on Price in a duel of aces on June 29. Verlander was awful in that game, giving up three home-runs.
Had Verlander won the game against the Rays, he would have finished just one win fewer than Price. With a win in that game, Verlander could also have beaten Price for the ERA crown.
Price had an excellent time on the mound last season as he finished the season with an impressive 20-5 win-loss record with a 2.56 ERA. Verlander earned 17 wins with a decent 2.64 ERA. There are a lot of ways to pick the Cy Young Award winner and Price leads
the two traditional ways (wins and ERA) to become the apparent front runner for the prestigious award.
"Price is the first ERA champion from the AL East since Pedro Martinez (in 2003 for Boston)," Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com said. "That is a special achievement. He consistently faced high-leverage situations in ballparks where one missed location means
a home run."
"I talked to a lot of people in the AL about this," Morosi said in a telephone interview. "It was darn close to a 50-50 split among them between Price and Verlander. When I look at the overall strength of Verlander's season -- his innings and strikeouts
and a lot of advanced metrics -- he was absolutely a deserving winner.”
According to a top sports website, 28 members of Baseball Writers’ Association of American participated in the voting on Wednesday. Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels was the third finalist. However, for his pitching excellent all through the past season,
Price was chosen over Verlander and Weaver.
Verlander will be disappointed with the fact he was unable to win the Cy Young Award for the second straight year but he will agree that Price was the deserving winner.
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