Logan Webb finishes 2nd in Cy Young voting

The San Francisco Giants season did not go the way their players or fans hoped, but it’s at least ending on a high note. On Wednesday it was announced that the Giants ace, right-handed pitcher Logan Webb, had finished second for the National League Cy Young Award.

It’s a tremendous accomplishment, and recognition of a truly fantastic season for the team’s leader. Among NL starters with at least 100 innings pitched, Webb led the league in innings (216), was seventh in ERA (3.25), fourth in FIP (3.16), first in ground ball rate (62.1%), first in walks allowed per nine innings (1.29), fifth in fWAR (4.9), and second in bWAR (5.5).

Webb’s results on the five-player ballots highlight just how unique this Cy Young race was, and how much certain numbers disagreed with others. As a result, voters seemed to have an all-or-nothing approach with Webb. Of the 30 Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters with a ballot (two per NL city), one voter had him first, 17 had him second, just one had him third, two had him fourth, four had him fifth, and five left him off their ballots entirely. That’s a pretty funny distribution!

The winner of the award was San Diego Padres southpaw Blake Snell, who has a non-zero chance of being Webb’s teammate in 2024: Snell is one of the top free agents on the market, and spent the last two years pitching for new Giants manager Bob Melvin.

It can be easy to take greatness for granted in the moment, especially for a franchise as storied as the Giants. So to help keep you from doing that, here’s your reminder that Webb’s runner-up finish is the highest a Giant has landed in Cy Young voting since Tim Lincecum won the award in 2009. It’s a better Cy Young finish than Madison Bumgarner (fourth) and Matt Cain (sixth) ever had.

Webb has made it clear that winning games is far more important to him than winning awards, so I’d say it’s time for the Giants to start doing exactly that.