Major League Baseball Midseason Awards: National League

Cy Young: Max Scherzer

Numbers (Through all-star break): 5.0 WAR, 0.779 WHIP, 208 ERA+, 2.61 FIP, 12.1 K/9, 6.41 Strikeout per Walk, 173 K, 10-5, 2.10 ERA

I’ve heard some debate over the past few months about whether or not Scherzer has unseated the great Clayton Kershaw as the best pitcher in baseball. While I still think Kershaw is the king from a career standpoint, as far as current form goes, it’s hard not to give Max Max the upper hand.

Scherzer leads the NL in traditional stats such as Earned Run Average and Strikeouts, and also cuts the mustard to stat geeks like myself with an excellent FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching)

To show how dominant Scherzer has been this season, here are his pre ASG stats, listed above, compared to Kershaw’s, who has been the second best pitcher in the NL by a wide margin.

Clayton Kershaw: 3.8 WAR, 0.877 WHIP, 189 ERA+, 3.01 FIP, 10.8 K/9, 7.23 Strikeout Per Walk, 159 K, 14-2, 2.18 ERA

It’s close, but these numbers make it clear that Scherzer has been the superior pitcher so far in 2017. This can change, of course. The season is barely more than halfway over and Kershaw is still Kershaw. That said, Scherzer is the best pitcher in the National League right now. Therefore, he is on track to win his second straight Cy Young and third overall. Wouldn’t it be something if the Nationals had the NL’s Most Valuable Player as well as it’s Cy Young award winner, and still found a way to crash out of the playoffs in the divisional round?