MLB Cy Young Ladder 9.0: Strikeout leader Spencer Strider is a conundrum in the National League race

Atlanta Braves ace Spencer Strider is on pace to throw for more than 280 strikeouts this season, a milestone just five other active players have ever achieved. His 13.9 strikeouts per nine innings are the second-most in major league history, according to Baseball Reference.

Strider also has a 3.83 ERA this season, which isn’t awful, but high for someone in the throes of a Cy Young race. Voters might be able to overlook that number in favor of advanced stats like his league-best 2.94 xERA and 2.91 xFIP at FanGraphs, but will they?

I’m not betting on it. Strider is very much in the NL Cy Young conversation because of his high strikeout total — his odds are third-best at BetMGM and he even received the most votes in a recent poll of ESPN staff writers — but that’s never been enough to win it.

The previously mentioned active players to cross the 280-strikeout mark — Gerrit Cole, Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander — combined to do it seven times. And while they all finished top-three in Cy Young voting in those years, only two actually won the award.

Strider’s ERA is not only higher than all of theirs was, it’s higher than anyone to have ever won the Cy Young. So today, while he climbs my rankings, I’m still not prepared to put him first, though there’s still about four starts left for him to make a move. Here’s where things stand today.

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