National League Cy Young Award trends

The American League has been honoring its most outstanding pitchers since 1967, when San Francisco Giants ace Mike McCormick became the inaugural recipient of the NL Cy Young Award. A lot has changed since then, with the introduction of closers, openers and mid-inning specialists, but the allure of the award remains.

Here's everything you wanted to know about the Senior Circuit's top pitching prize.

Who votes on the Cy Young Award?

The NL Cy Young winner is selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America, an association of professional sports journalists from all 30 MLB venues. Each voter places a ballot for first, second, third, fourth and fifth place, and the votes are tallied to determine a winner.

Can relievers win the NL Cy Young Award?

Absolutely, but it hasn't happened often. The Cy Young has historically skewed heavily toward starting pitchers, with starters winning the award 90% of the time since since 1967.

The only relievers to win the honor are Mike Marshall (1974), Bruce Sutter (1979), Steve Bedrosian (1987), Mark Davis (1989), and Eric Gagne (2003). All five members of that exclusive club were closers, and all but Davis were right-handers. Speaking of which...

Lefties vs. righties

Left-handers make up 28% of pitchers, but have won the NL Cy Young award 32% of the time since 1967. Here are the eight lefties who have finished first in Cy Young balloting:

Which division has won the most NL Cy Young Awards?

That honor belongs to the National League East. Pitchers from NL East teams won seven of the eight Cy Young Awards from 1991 to 1998. The eighth award was won by Greg Maddux, who ended up in the NL East the following year with the Atlanta Braves.

Which teams have won the most NL Cy Young Awards?

The Mets, Phillies, and Dodgers are all knotted up with seven Cy Young Awards each, but the momentum belongs to New York. Jacob deGrom has won the NL Cy Young in each of the last two seasons and is favored to come out on top again in 2020.

What is the average number of wins among NL Cy Young winners?

Since 1967, NL Cy Young-winning starting pitchers have averaged 20 wins. However, it is possible to win the award with considerably fewer victories. New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom set the low-water mark for wins in 2018, when he finished with a 10-9 record. His pedestrian total was offset by the fact that he was just the second pitcher in MLB history to post a sub-2.00 ERA, and record at least 250 strikeouts and fewer than 50 walks in a season.

Does team success matter?

DeGrom is living proof that even a lousy team can produce a Cy Young winner, but he’s the exception rather than the rule. Five of the past 10 NL Cy Young winners have played on teams that finished first in their division. Even when you factor in three subpar Mets squads, the last 10 teams to produce a Cy Young winner still averaged 89 regular-season victories.

What is the average age of an NL Cy Young winner?

Over the last 10 years, the average age of the NL Cy Young winner was 29, which makes sense, since the prime for most players is between 26 and 29. The oldest player to win the award was Gaylord Perry, who was 40-years-old when he was named the National League's top pitcher in 1978.

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