In baseball, momentum is only as good as the next day’s starting pitcher. But at least Major League Baseball and its Players Association established enough momentum this past March to come to an agreement, preventing an exaggerated lockout and getting the season underway in a reasonable timeframe.
So that enables us to focus on one of the more enjoyable aspects of the longest season in sports: futures betting. Fans everywhere are placing their MLB picks today as we inch closer to a very compelling 2022 season.
In this article, we’re going to find two pitchers from both the AL and NL that offer considerable value to win the game’s highest honor for those throwing from 60 feet six inches away: the Cy Young Award.
American League
Lance Lynn (+2000)
This White Sox team might be the best Lynn’s ever been a part of, or at least has the most potential, considering he was acquired by the 2018 Yankees team that won 100 games midseason.
Yes, he’ll be 35 in May, but the big righty has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting twice over the last three seasons, including third last year. Four of the White Sox’ starters find themselves in the top-25 for available odds, but with Lucas Giolito and Dylan Cease each with shorter odds, we’ll go with the more valuable play on a World Series contender’s ace.
Jose Berrios (+2000)
Same logic applies here, getting equal value, except Berrios is seven years younger. The White Sox and Blue Jays figure to have two of the best lineups in not only the American League, but all of baseball. So both should benefit from tremendous run support throughout the campaign.
Berrios will slide in as the Jays’ number two starter, but new ace Kevin Gausman will need some time to adjust to AL lineups after pitching in the NL for the last four plus years. Berrios will have the benefit of a Spring Training with Toronto after the Blue Jays acquired him from Minnesota last July.
National League
Logan Webb (+1800)
The Giants are an interesting mystery heading in 2022 with predictions for where they’ll finish in the NL West running the full gamut. They’re coming off a 107-win season, the most in the majors, and took the Dodgers to five games in the NLDS.
However, they lost Gausman and Kris Bryant to free agency and Buster Posey to retirement and didn’t really dip their toes in the free agent pool. But they still have Webb who now slides into the top starter chair after a year in which he went 11-3 with a 3.03 ERA.
Gausman finished 6th in the voting a year ago and if the 25-year old continues his ascension, he could easily be in the mix if San Francisco doesn’t regress too much.
Julio Urías (+3500)
It may be silly not to include Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer in any Cy Young list since they have combined to win five between them and four out of the last six in the National League. The key here though is value and a bang for your buck.
Scherzer at 8-1 is actually pretty appealing, but Urías is too good to pass up. Walker Buehler is the new certified ace of the mighty Dodgers and his odds reflect that status. But Scherzer bolted back across the country and Clayton Kershaw is hardly the pitcher he once was. Insert Urías who finished 8th in the voting last year and will be a much more important piece in 2022.
The Dodgers, Blue Jays and White Sox are on a lot of experts’ short lists to win the World Series, and the Giants aren’t too far behind. If any or all of those four teams live up to their projected potential, the awards won’t be too far behind. Either way, it should be another fun race to follow until October.
