11 Cy Young Awards That Still Don’t Make Sense

Last Updated: September 14th, 2026 by Matthew Brown

The Cy Young Award is so special and unique to this game of baseball. It has gotten to the point where we will debate for hours as a fanbase on who should win the award every single year. At least there are more than a handful in history that we can look back on and ask ourselves, "what were we thinking?"

Let's go over the most obvious snubs in Cy Young voting history, and you can tell me your story of how one of your favorite pitchers should have won in a specific year instead of the guy who never did.

11. Nolan Ryan’s Strikeout Masterpiece (1973)

It still baffles many fans that Nolan Ryan never won a Cy Young Award. His 1973 season is the gold standard for strikeout pitchers. He set the modern-era record with 383 Ks on a 2.87 ERA. He lost the award to Jim Palmer who got only one more win than Ryan did.

Both pitchers are Hall of Famers, but Ryan was robbed of his best chance by a guy who ended up with three.

Nolan Ryan Jr. — Career	Total
W	324
L	292
ERA	3.19
G	807
IP	5386.0
SO	5714
WHIP	1.25
SV	3
All-Star selections	8
World Series titles	1

10. Randy Johnson’s Superior Season (2004)

You'll find that a good number of the controversial Cy Young decisions were given to pitchers with more wins than the runner-up. It is certainly the case here. Both Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens were enjoying renaissance seasons, as Clemens was able to lead the league in win percentage (.818) while Johnson led the league in strikeouts (290), WHIP (0.900), and WAR (8.4).

Randy Johnson — Career	Total
W	303
L	166
ERA	3.29
G	618
IP	4135.1
SO	4875
WHIP	1.17
SV	2
Cy Young	5
All-Star selections	10
World Series titles	1

9. Pedro Martinez’s Brilliant Campaign (2002)

As the voters of these awards make up baseball media, there are years where you'll find that the story and narrative of a player's season takes precedence. The writers could not ignore the fact that the Oakland A's found success using their Moneyball methods and Barry Zito was one of their stars.

Pedro Martinez had already won three Cy Youngs, so they thought it would be okay to let the pitcher who posted a 2.26 ERA to lead all of baseball play second fiddle to the one who had a 2.75 ERA and more of a Cinderella story.

Pedro Martínez — Career	Total
W	219
L	100
ERA	2.93
G	476
IP	2827.1
SO	3154
WHIP	1.05
SV	3
Cy Young	3
All-Star selections	8
World Series titles	1

8. Mike Mussina’s Overlooked Excellence (2001)

2001 was a tough season for the Cy Young Award. Two New York pitchers were appropriately candidates as they were also trying to help rebuild a broken city. Roger Clemens was just more of an icon at the time and had a really good 20-3 record.

Mike Mussina arguably lifted more on his shoulders as he led with a 143 ERA+ and 7.1 WAR. Unfortunately for Moose, he didn't even get into the top three in voting.

Mike Mussina — Career	Total
W	270
L	153
ERA	3.68
G	537
IP	3562.2
SO	2813
WHIP	1.19
SV	0
All-Star selections	5
Gold Gloves	7

7. Dave Stieb’s Forgotten Gem (1982)

In 1982, Dave Stieb was simply a workhorse. Unfortunately, the hardest worker doesn't always get the biggest reward. Stieb led the league in WAR, complete games, and innings pitched. His season seemed to go unnoticed as he didn't even get third place in voting.

It's similar to how he had so many games that could have gone down in history as no-hitters get swept away in the last inning and ultimately forgotten.

Dave Stieb — Career	Total
W	176
L	137
ERA	3.44
G	443
IP	2895.1
SO	1669
WHIP	1.25
SV	3
All-Star selections	7

6. Johan Santana’s Statistical Dominance (2005)

We have come to another entry on the list where wins were favored over other statistical categories. Johan Santana had a dominant career where he could have had three consecutive Cy Young Award wins. Instead, he had to settle for third in 2005 when he still had a 2.87 ERA and led the league in WHIP with a minuscule 0.971. He also dominated with an MLB-leading 238 strikeouts.

Who won the Cy Young Award that year? Bartolo Colon, who had a much higher 3.48 ERA, and the only statistical category he led the league in was his 21 wins that season.

Johan Santana — Career	Total
W	139
L	78
ERA	3.20
G	360
IP	2025.2
SO	1988
WHIP	1.13
SV	1
Cy Young	2
All-Star selections	4
Gold Gloves	1

5. Justin Verlander’s Controversial Loss (2016)

Justin Verlander has arguably been the greatest pitcher of his generation. He had a dominant stretch with the Detroit Tigers where he was able to collect many All-Star selections and a couple Cy Young Awards.

However, his last full season in Detroit was where he was robbed of another Cy Young as he led all pitchers with 7.4 WAR on a 3.04 ERA and a league-leading 254 strikeouts. Again, a pitcher with more wins received the award as Rick Porcello's league-leading 22 wins were enough to carry him over the legendary Verlander.

Justin Verlander — Career	Total
W	266
L	159
ERA	3.33
G	556
IP	3571.1
SO	3554
WHIP	1.14
SV	0
MVP	1
Cy Young	3
All-Star selections	10
World Series titles	2
Rookie of the Year	1

4. Bob Gibson’s Post-1968 Brilliance (1969)

At this point, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about Bob Gibson's 1968 season, when he basically broke baseball and forced the sport to change its rules and lower the height of the mound. What hasn't been talked about as much is the following season for Gibson. He was able to come very close to his 1968 numbers, as he had a 2.18 ERA on an MLB-leading 28 complete games and 269 strikeouts.

Unfortunately, we are unable to know how close he actually was, as they only released the winner and runner-up of the Cy Young voting that year. Either way, Gibson was not considered a finalist, and that is just wrong.

Bob Gibson — Career	Total
W	251
L	174
ERA	2.91
G	528
IP	3884.1
SO	3117
WHIP	1.19
SV	6
MVP	1
Cy Young	2
All-Star selections	8
Gold Gloves	9
World Series titles	2

3. Kevin Brown’s Dominant Season (1996)

Kevin Brown had some of the most impressive seasons for a pitcher in the 1990s, but he just didn't get the recognition that he deserved. He never won a Cy Young Award during his career, and 1996 was when he got closest. He led all of baseball with an amazing 1.89 ERA. He also led baseball with three complete-game shutouts thanks to his 0.944 WHIP. Instead, the award went to a pitcher who had (you guessed it) more wins than Kevin Brown.

John Smoltz got 24 wins that year, but he also led baseball with 276 strikeouts, so the pitcher who won the award wasn't that bad a candidate compared to some others on this list. But Kevin Brown's 1.89 ERA is just a baffling stat to leave in second place for the most coveted pitching prize.

Kevin Brown — Career	Total
W	211
L	144
ERA	3.28
G	486
IP	3256.1
SO	2397
WHIP	1.22
SV	0
All-Star selections	6
World Series titles	1

2. Kevin Appier’s Underappreciated Excellence (1993)

Forget his underappreciated excellence in 1993; Kevin Appier was an underappreciated pitcher in his career. He received only one All-Star selection in his entire career, and that wasn't even his best season. In 1993, Appier led the league in ERA and WAR, but he couldn't even make it into the runner-up spot.

Appier had a league-leading 2.90 FIP, which also means that he was the best pitcher at inducing easy outs for his defense. He made their jobs easier than any other pitcher in the league, and that is probably the ultimate source of pride for a pitcher like Appier.

Kevin Appier — Career	Total
W	169
L	137
ERA	3.74
G	414
IP	2595.1
SO	1994
WHIP	1.29
SV	0
All-Star selections	1
World Series titles	1

1. Roger Clemens’ Final Masterpiece (2005)

Shortly after his record 7th Cy Young Award, Roger Clemens was looking to defy aging as he was on a roll again in 2005 at the age of 42. He earned an All-Star selection and led all pitchers in baseball with a 1.87 ERA and 7.8 WAR.

It ended up looking like a good decision for Clemens to go to Houston, as he saw a bit of a Renaissance as a pitcher. He got to turn back the clock every time he was on the mound.

Roger Clemens — Career	Total
W	354
L	184
ERA	3.12
G	709
IP	4916.2
SO	4672
WHIP	1.17
SV	0
MVP	1
Cy Young	7
All-Star selections	11
World Series titles	2

Keep reading

• 12 Great Pitchers Baseball Robbed of a Cy Young
• 12 Pitchers From Before the Steroid Explosion
• The Red Sox Pitchers Nobody Can Argue With