Ever since Zack Wheeler, Corbin Burnes and Max Scherzer were announced as the three “finalists” for the National League Cy Young Award, debate has grown over a key difference between Wheeler and Burnes.
Was Wheeler’s durability and endurance, combined with outstanding numbers, more “valuable” than Burnes’ ridiculously good rate statistics and other advanced metrics?
Thankfully, this was not a debate about “wins,” which used to be a major factor in how the Baseball Writers Association of America voted on these things. Nevertheless, the NL Cy Young vote, which saw Burnes edge Wheeler by 10 points as both received 12 first place votes, saw some old battle lines being redrawn.