Padres star finishes in top four in NL Cy Young voting, just behind Paul Skeens

The San Diego Padres saved Dylan Cease from one of the worst seasons Major League Baseball has ever seen when they acquired him from the Chicago White Sox during spring training.

He rewarded the National League Western team with a 14-11 record and 3.47 ERA. Cease finished the season ranked fourth in the National League Cy Young.

The final results were announced live on MLB Network Wednesday night, with Atlanta’s Chris Sale receiving 26 of 30 first-place votes and scoring 198 points. Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler finished second with four first-place votes, and Pittsburgh newcomer Paul Skeens was third.

Padres starter Michael King finished seventh, three behind Cease.

More news: The Padres signed the infielder from the NL West Rival this offseason.

This season, Keyes has established himself as one of the National League’s best pitchers, posting a 3.47 ERA and 3.10 FIP in 33 starts. He totaled 224 strikeouts, just one shy of Sale’s league best.

At one point this season, Cease was having one of the best three-game stretches of any pitcher’s career. He made history as the first pitcher since at least 1901 to make three starts with 30 strikeouts while allowing no more than two hits. He also set a single-season record with six starts of at least six innings while giving up one hit or less.

The San Diego ace also set a new personal best with a 1.067 WHIP and added the tie to his growing list of accomplishments. The no-no ended an incredible three-game streak in which he tossed 22 scoreless innings and tallied 30 strikeouts.

Keys spent five seasons with the White Sox before being traded, compiling a 43-35 record with a 3.83 ERA and 792 strikeouts in 123 starts from 2019 to 2023. He reached the 200 strikeout mark in each of his last three seasons with the team. .

Although Cease was considered the team’s ace, King was arguably the best.

After arriving in San Diego as part of the trade package that sent Juan Soto to New York, King went 13-9 with a 2.95 ERA. In his first season with San Diego, he reinvented himself as a legitimate major league starter.

From 2020 to 2023, King made 19 starts for the Yankees, nine of which came last season. Eight of those starts were in the final stretch of the season, but he was only able to reach his full potential in the final four.

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