Did they get it right?

I don’t think so, but that’s a long way from saying voters blew the 2015 National League Cy Young Award. Great cases could be made for all three finalists -- Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw and Jake Arrieta.

In the end it was close, although probably not as close as most had anticipated, with Arrieta winning by 22 points over Greinke. He had 17 first-place votes to Greinke’s 10 and Kershaw’s three.

There is no denying Arrieta had a deserving season. He finished 22-6 (.786 winning percentage) with a 1.77 earned-run average and a 0.87 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched), all absolutely terrific numbers though not quite as terrific as Greinke, who went 19-3 (.864) with a 1.66 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP.


Arrieta largely won because of the way he finished, putting together a jaw-dropping second half. He had a record 0.75 ERA after the All-Star break and went 16-1 in his last 17 starts. That’s the kind of clutch run that garners attention and, as it turned out, votes.

But Greinke was excellent the entire season, going great from his first start to his last. He did not allow a run in 11 of his 32 starts and went at least six innings in each. In the summer he had a streak of 45 2/3 scoreless innings. His ERA was the lowest in the majors in 20 years.

And he was the runner-up.

Consistency should have won out, but Arrieta was all the buzz in the second half. The Dodgers didn’t help Greinke’s cause any, getting no-hit by Arrieta at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 30.


Kershaw, of course, led the league in strikeouts (301) and innings pitched (232 2/3), and fashioned a 2.13 ERA. The list of pitchers in the Cy Young era who rolled up 300 strikeouts and an ERA as low as Kershaw’s in the same season according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark: Sandy Koufax (1963, ’65 and ’66), Pedro Martinez (1997 and ’99), Steve Carlton (1972) and Vida Blue (1971). All of them won the Cy Young, all except Kershaw.

And he came in third.

A very competitive year in the National League. Los Angeles Times sports writers are not allowed to vote for awards, but if I’d had a ballot it would have gone Greinke, Arrieta and Kershaw.

You could flip all three names in any order and not really have been wrong, but on balance, I had Greinke.