Aaron Nola was one of the best pitchers in all of baseball back in 2018. This is simply not debatable. He posted a 2.37 ERA, 0.975 WHIP, won 17 games, placed third in the NL Cy Young voting, made his first All-Star game, and even received a few MVP votes.
After a year like that, both fans and analysts alike expected Nola to perform even better the following season. Surrounded by a far superior defense along with some nice new shiny bats to provide better run support (cough cough Bryce Harper), the stars were seemingly aligned for the 26 year old to snag his first career Cy Young award.