Good morning!
In what seemed to be merely a formality, Justin Verlander won the Cy Young this year with Dylan Cease finishing a distant second. While Dale Earnhardt may think that Dylan Cease is merely the first place loser, White Sox fans will happily take runner-up to a future Hall of Famer, given where he was at the end of 2020:
What a disaster. Cease’s command was a mess from start-to-finish, and while the stuff can be eye-popping at times, his issues with gyroscopic spin raise questions as to how it would play even if he had a clue where the ball was going. Cease made all 12 of his scheduled starts this season but didn’t manage to pitch enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. That FIP mark was the worst of any pitcher to throw at least 58 innings, with a mile between Cease and Matthew Boyd‘s Tim-Anderson-induced 5.78 mark. Had Cease been a more established pitcher, I might have placed more weight on the 4.01 ERA, which stemmed from his ability to get hitters to magically slap into double-plays (he’s not a ground ball pitcher) to get him out of trouble, and the fluky .193 batting average he allowed with men on base. Instead, he’s being primarily evaluated with his progress towards a long-term role. Right now, he looks a lot more like the guy the Sox were (rightfully) afraid to use in any meaningful postseason situation than a 4.00 ERA pitcher.
Instead of being sad that it's over, let's be happy it happened at all! To celebrate, let's have ourselves a Sporcle. This week, I'm asking you to identify the 26 unique pitchers throughout White Sox history who have garnered at least one Cy Young vote since its inception in 1956. In all there are 37 entries: how many can you get? Good luck!
Quiz Parameters
- I've allotted 10 minutes for completion attempts.
- For hints, I've provided the year and the place the pitcher finished in voting.
Useless information to amaze, annoy, confuse, and/or confound your friends and family:
- The longest drought between votes is from 1959-1967.
- The most consecutive seasons to appear in Cy Young voting is 4, from 2012-2015.
- If a White Sox pitcher doesn't win the award next season, that will mark 30 years since the last first-place finish.
All data from baseballreference.com
