3 reasons Dylan Cease deserves the AL Cy Young Award over Justin Verlander

Chicago White Sox starter Dylan Cease had an incredible breakout season in 2022 and is a top candidate to win the AL Cy Young Award. There are still several players that are worth considering, and one of those players is veteran Justin Verlander.

Both have had terrific seasons, but here is an explanation as to why Dylan Cease deserves the award over the future Hall-of-Famer.

#3. Dylan Cease has more innings pitched

Verlander may lead the league in ERA at 1.84, but Cease's ERA is 2.06 with 10 more innings pitched. This is something that in recent years has not been valued as much, but Cease deserves recognition for going deep into games every fifth day.

#2. Dylan Cease has a much higher K/9 rate

Cease's strikeouts per nine innings are an impressive 11.4 compared to Verlander's 9.1. This may not seem like as big of a difference, but it is when you look at it over the course of an entire season. Verlander has 154 strikeouts compared to 206 for Cease.

Dylan Cease's 2022 season has been dominant throughout and he has put up several impressive performances. Perhaps his most dominant performance came on September 3rd, when he pitched a near no-hitter.

#1. Dylan Cease has a higher WAR and is more durable

Justin Verlander's season has been magnificent and he would likely be the AL Cy Young Award winner if not for an injury that has sidelined him since August 28th. He is expected back soon, but missing a couple of weeks may be the difference in who wins the award.

Cease has simply been more durable and this should mean something. The White Sox starter leads the American League in starts made and is the number one reason why the White Sox still have a chance in the playoff race.

Cease also has a higher WAR (Wins-Above-Replacement) than Verlander. Cease's WAR is currently 5.8 compared to Verlander's 4.8.

While both have incredible seasons, this shows that Cease is one win more valuable than Verlander.

While WAR is certainly not the only statistic to base a player's value off of, it most definitely needs to be a factor in the voting process.

Overall, the AL Cy Young winner will likely be highly contested as three players can realistically win the award. These next couple of starts for each candidate may very well be the deciding factor.

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