ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The No. 1 reason the St. Louis Cardinals made the postseason in 2021 was the incredible season of Adam Wainwright. It earned him a spot among the top Cy Young vote-getters for the fifth time in his 16-year MLB career.
Wainwright finished seventh in the NL, in his age-40 season, receiving three fifth-place votes. The tally was announced last night with Milwaukee Brewers' Corbin Burnes winning in the NL and Toronto Blue Jays' Robbie Ray winning in the AL.
Burnes' 10-point margin of victory was the closest in NL history.
Wainwright also has two second-place finishes (2010 and 2013) and two third-place finishes (2009 and 2014) in the NL Cy Young race.
The Cardinals' ace received his votes from St. Louis beat writer Katie Woo of The Athletic, national writer Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News (who lives in St. Louis) and Pittsburgh beat writer Kevin Gorman of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. That last one also makes a lot of sense becuase Waino won all four of his starts against the Pirates, allowing just a run in 30 innings this season.
This year, Wainwright was also one of just five pitchers in baseball – with Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urias — with at least 15 wins, 150 strikeouts and a sub-3.50 ERA. Again, in his AGE-40 SEASON!
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There's no argument for Wainwright to win the award this year and probably not much to say about him possibly receiving more votes, but he was one of the best "pitchers" in baseball. Despite not being among the best "throwers" in baseball (in the bottom 3% of pitchers for average fastball velocity in 2021), he still cut up MLB hitters about as well as anyone.
He won 17 games (second-best in the NL), had a 1.06 WHIP (ninth in NL) and had a 3.05 ERA (10th in NL).
As he's often says, velocity isn't the sign of great pitcher:
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