San Diego Padres' Blake Snell Makes Multiple Instances of History By Winning Cy Young Award

Blake Snell won the second Cy Young Award of his career Wednesday, ultimately joining Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and other legends in the record books.

Blake Snell secured the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night, making multiple instances of history in the process.

The 30-year-old left-hander starred for the San Diego Padres, picking up some serious hardware five seasons after doing the same with the Tampa Bay Rays. According to MLB.com's Sarah Langs, Snell becomes the seventh pitcher ever to win the Cy Young Award in both the American League and National League.

Max Scherzer is the most recent player to achieve the feat. Before him, Roy Halladay, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens and Gaylord Perry all did so. Every player on the list has a Hall of Fame resume, with Clemens being the only eligible pitcher left out of Cooperstown due to his ties to performance enhancing drugs.

7 pitchers have won CYA in both leagues:

Blake Snell
Roger Clemens
Randy Johnson
Pedro Martínez
Max Scherzer
Gaylord Perry
Roy Halladay

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) November 15, 2023

That wasn't the only way in which Snell made history, either.

Snell opened his 2023 campaign with a 1-6 record. Per OptaSTATS, Snell is now the first pitcher in MLB history to win the Cy Young after being five-plus games under .500 at any point in the season.

The @Padres' Blake Snell started out 1-6 this year.

He's the first pitcher in MLB history to win the Cy Young after being 5+ games under .500 at any point that season. pic.twitter.com/pCYeEwaGLK

— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) November 15, 2023

Of course, Snell turned things around from there to justify winning his second Cy Young in six years. Across his final 23 starts, Snell led the Padres to a 16-7 record thanks to his 1.20 ERA and .156 batting average against.

Snell finished the season 14-9 with an NL-best 2.25 ERA, as well as 234 strikeouts, an 1.189 WHIP and 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings. His 6.0 WAR led all National League pitchers in 2023.

Langs also reported that Snell became the 11th pitcher to win a Cy Young Award entering free agency, and the fourth in the last four seasons. Five of the last 10 changed teams, and it remains to be seen where Snell ends up for 2024.

Snell is the 11th pitcher to win a Cy Young Award heading into free agency

It’s happened in each of the last 4 seasons

Before 2020, nobody had won CYA entering free agency since 2004

5 of the prior 10 changed teams that offseason, as opposed to re-signing with the same team pic.twitter.com/FpKlyfqJwa

— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) November 15, 2023

Snell earned 28 of 30 first-place votes. San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb and Arizona Diamondbacks standout Zac Gallen finished second and third, respectively.

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