How Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski can still lose NL Cy Young award originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
There is a clear favorite in the NL Cy Young race as of August 13, and it's Milwaukee Brewers flame-throwing right-hander Jacob Misiorowski.
He's been incredible, posting a 1.76 ERA this season with an 11-5 record, 204 strikeouts, and a 237 ERA+ in 22 starts across 133 innings pitched.
Misiorowski is the Cy Young favorite, but as ESPN's Jeff Passan highlighted, there's still a chance he loses this award. The way he could miss out on the Cy Young? The Brewers begin to limit his work to save him for the postseason.
Jacob Misiorowski could lose NL Cy Young award if Brewers do one thing
"Misiorowski already has exceeded his career high in innings, and with seven weeks left in the season, the Brewers could ration his innings going forward, particularly considering they're aiming to play deep into October," Passan writes.
If that were to happen to Misiorowski, there is a real chance that the innings gap between him and Philadelphia Phillies Cy Young candidate Cristopher Sanchez widens enough to lead some voters to side with Sanchez.
Of course, it would take a massive gap in innings for voters to shift their votes towards Sanchez over Misiorowski. Right now, Sanchez has a 2.54 ERA with 181 strikeouts in 155.2 innings pitched.
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He has a 22.2-inning lead over Misiorowski, and if that were to grow significantly, this race could become a whole lot tighter than it is right now.
But it would take more than simply a difference in innings pitched for Misiorowski to lose this award. He'd also likely need to struggle a bit, while Sanchez thrives down the stretch, for things to change.
If he is 40+ innings behind Sanchez, and Misiorowski's ERA jumps up significantly while Sanchez's lowers, the Brewers ace might not win this Cy Young award.
He's the overwhelming favorite, and for good reason. But if the Brewers start to be conservative with Misiorowski, it could be a huge detriment to his NL Cy Young chances.
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