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New York Mets starter Jacob deGrom was named the National League Cy Young award winner Wednesday night, denying Nationals ace Max Scherzer a third-straight win.
The 30-year-old deGrom dethroned the 34-year-old Scherzer with a MLB-low 1.70 ERA in 217 innings pitched, grabbing 29 out of 30 first place votes.
Scherzer, who posted a 2.53 ERA in 220 2/3 innings pitched, had the edge in strikeouts over deGrom (300 to 269), deniied deGrom a unanimous victory and received 29 out of the 30 votes for second place in the NL. Philadelphia's Aaron Nola (2.37 ERA) finished third and Colorado's Kyle Freeland (2.85 ERA) fourth.
Some Nationals fans were upset deGrom beat out Scherzer despite posting just 10 wins (the lowest win total for a Cy Young winner in a non-strike shortened season) to Scherzer's NL-leading 18. However, wins have fallen out of vogue as a statistic used to judge pitchers because run support from a team's offense shouldn't determine a pitcher's success. The ineffectiveness of the Mets' offense shouldn't be the fault of deGrom.