2022 MLB American League Cy Young Odds: Shane Bieber, Robbie Ray, Justin Verlander and More
The American League hasn't seen a back-to-back Cy Young winner since Pedro Martinez in 2000. If Robbie Ray takes the prize again this year, he could make history.
Gerrit Cole, Shane Bieber, and Robbie Ray opened the season as the favorites to win in the American League. This week, Dylan Cease has replaced Ray in the top three. Ray had two bad outings, and Cease has only given up five hits and two runs in his two starts.
Cy Young Favorites
Shane Bieber
Shane Bieber deserves to be the favorite. Bieber was injured most of last season, and he's hungry for a second Cy Young. The AL Central has been referred to as the weakest division in baseball. Like Corbin Burnes in the National League, playing in a weak division gives this pitcher an edge in the Cy Young race.
Robbie Ray
After getting off to a poor start, bettors can take this opportunity to jump on the reigning Cy Young winner's future with the higher payout. Ray won last year pitching in the AL East, and this offseason, he made the jump to the AL West. However, players — especially pitchers — can have a down year when making a change like that. Ray may just be having a slow start to the season, but that is something to keep in mind.
Gerrit Cole
Gerrit Cole finished second in the Cy Young race last year in what was a mediocre year for Cole. While he has been great in New York, he hasn't had the same successes he had in Houston or Pittsburgh. We have seen this repeatedly with players taking a step back after putting on the pinstripes. There is no vocational equivalent to playing for the Yankees. There are 780 major league baseball players, and only 26 can wear the pinstripes.
Only five players have won the the award for the Yankees, the most recent was Roger Clemons in 2001. Cole has a great shot at becoming the sixth, but he will have to pitch a lot better than he currently is.
Dylan Cease
Dylan Cease (+800) is an incredible value. Cease is 2-0, and he has only given up two runs so far this season, and he's second in the AL in strikeouts.
A deep dive on some Dylan Cease advanced analytics: https://t.co/E48jDogdQB
"A deep dive on some Dylan Cease advanced analytics" - @ Jay Cuda
Pitching in the AL Central, Cease shares that same privilege as Bieber; this is another factor that makes this an attractive bet.
Dark Horses
The stable out west in Anaheim has a couple of studs bettors should keep their eyes on, Noah Syndergaard (+3000) and Shohei Ohtani (+1500). Syndergaard made the jump from New York to California this offseason. As Robbie Ray has shown, jumping from coast to coast can be difficult, but Syndergaard is off to a hot start in the Golden State; he's 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA and a .79 WHIP.
Betting on Ohtani is not as cut and dry as it should be. Ohtani is a phenomenal pitcher and one of the best players in baseball, but the baseball writers who vote on player awards like to make things difficult. They are typically apprehensive about giving one player multiple awards. Since 2000, only two players, Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw, have won Cy Young and MVP. As a two-way player, Ohtani will always be in the running for MVP, so he has to have a miraculous year on the mound to win the Cy Young. He is more than capable of doing so.
Shohei Ohtani, 99mph Fastball (foul) and 90mph Splitter (swinging K), Overlay https://t.co/FTquEesxRt
"Shohei Ohtani, 99mph Fastball (foul) and 90mph Splitter (swinging K), Overlay" - @ Rob Friedman
At this point in the season, Shane Bieber and Gerrit Cole deserve to be the two favorites for Cy Young, but when betting this early in the season, value is essential. At (+800), Dylan Cease deserves to have the most bets laid on his name. If his next start goes as well as his last two, that number will go down, so bettors should take advantage.