A few weeks ago, I listened to a podcast show. In the show, the host and guests talked about Shohei Ohtani and his achievements. Without a doubt, Ohtani has done so many great things thus far in his career. He’s a 5-time All-Star, Rookie of the year award winner, 4-time Silver Slugger award winner and 4-time MVP award winner.
It’s quite clear that Ohtani has been outstanding. However, there’s an award that he hasn’t won and that’s Cy Young award. After listening to the show, I’m thinking whether it’s possible to see Ohtani win a Cy Young award. To solve my doubts, I decided to check on the great Baseball Reference website.
There are some Cy Young award winners who are closers. However, Ohtani is a starter, so we will take a look at starters this time. Moreover, so far in his career, there’s only one time that Ohtani only tossed more than 150 innings in a single season. It was the 2022 season, in which Ohtani threw 166 innings. Well, is there a starter who won a Cy Young award without throwing more than 170 innings?
The 2020 season was a shortened one. Trevor Bauer won the NL Cy Young award and he threw 73 innings. At the same time, Shane Bieber won the AL Cy Young award and he tossed 77.1 innings. That season is a little different.
But there’s something interesting. Rick Sutcliffe won the 1984 NL Cy Young award. Back then, he made 20 starts for the Cubs and threw 150.1 innings, posting a 2.69 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP. He got 16 wins and only lost once. Additionally, he threw 155 strikeouts. Nevertheless, he didn’t just throw 150.1 innings in 1984. He was traded to the Cubs in June 1984. Before the trade, he pitched 94.1 innings for the Indians (Guardians).
In addition, Corbin Burnes won the NL Cy Young award in 2021. Back then, he made 28 starts for the Brewers, posting a 2.43 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP over 167 innings. In the 2021 season, Burnes earned 11 wins and took 5 losses. Furthermore, he struck out 234 batters during the regular season.
Hence, there are actually 2 starters who won the Cy Young award without reaching 170 innings in that season. In 1984, Rick Sutcliffe showed the dominance after being traded to the Cubs. And the most recent case is Corbin Burnes, who won the NL Cy Young award in 2021. Well, they both won the NL Cy Young award. Looking at these 2 players’ performances in the season that they won the Cy Young award, it’s clear that they each finished the season with an ERA below 3 and a WHIP below 1.1. Back in 2022, Ohtani made 28 starts, posting a 2.33 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. And he struck out 219 batters. Ohtani finished 4th in the 2022 AL Cy Young voting, but that performance truly showed that he was capable of winning a Cy Young award. Shohei Ohtani already turned 31 and he just came back to the mound last season. In 2026, it will be worth watching if he will reach 160 innings. And most importantly, what will he show on the mound?
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