The American League Cy Young award has been presented to Corey Kluber. The veteran right-handed ace of the Cleveland Indians has won his second Cy Young Award since 2014 and is now the first pitcher to win it twice in franchise history. Kluber beat out Chris Sale in a very tight race as both pitchers dominated lineups all season long. There is some controversy over the decision as Sale had some very worthy numbers as well.

Kluber has been part of a Cleveland Indians team that has won two-consecutive division titles and a pennant in 2016. He is a two-time All Star along with being a multiple-time Cy Young winner, and led the AL in earned run average this season.

Kluber's season

Corey Kluber pitched to a 2.25 ERA, 2.50 FIP, 0.87 WHIP, 265 strikeouts and a 7.3 fWAR in 203.2 innings pitched. He was tied for top of the league in wins with 18 and threw three shutouts. He had the second-highest number of strikeouts in a season in his career (269 in 2014), however, he had a career-high K/9 ratio at 11.71. This was also his first ever season having a season WHIP under 1.00 and a walk rate under 5.0.

Interestingly, despite the fact that he pitched his fourth-consecutive 200+ inning season, it was his lowest inning totals since 2013 when he pitched 147.1 innings.

From 2014-2016 he averaged 224.1 innings per season. Regardless, he still pitched well enough in terms of innings to qualify for a Cy Young.

Sale robbed?

Kluber pitched like a Cy Young winner this year, no doubt. However, Chris Sale's numbers are pretty worthy as well. While his ERA was higher (2.90), Sale struck out 308 batters in 214.1 innings and a lower FIP at 2.45 with a 7.7 fWAR.

Sale has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this decade and he has come very close to the prestigious award, but never quite won it. This was Sale's best year so far, and it can be argued that he deserved to win. 300 strikeouts is a historical accomplishment and he led all pitchers in fWAR, but ERA sticks out to a lot of voters.

Wins likely did not play a huge factor considering it was a one win difference. Sale had 17 and Kluber had 18.

Both guys were absolutely dominant this year, and arguments could be made for both. It was a tough break for Sale because if Kluber was not as good as he was, he would have had the Cy Young in the bag. Regardless, both Sale and Kluber will be back at it next season playing for the award yet again.

Congrats to Corey Kluber on winning the Cy Young Award.
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