Dodgers Ace is Top Three in the NL Cy Young Award Voting

Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias was named a finalist for the Cy Young Award, meaning he finished in the top three in the award voting.

The finalists for all of MLB's postseason awards were announced on Monday, and to everyone's delight but no one's surprise, Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias is one of the finalists for the National League Cy Young Award.

Your 2022 NL Cy Young Award finalists! pic.twitter.com/ppOKtL9lAT

— MLB (@MLB) November 7, 2022

Being a finalist simply means Urias was one of the top three vote-getters, along with Sandy Alcantara and Max Fried. Urias led the league with a 2.16 ERA, with Alcantara second at 2.28 and Fried third at 2.48.

With the top three ERA leaders also the top three in Cy Young voting, you might think Urias has the inside track to win the award. But there's a very good chance the award will go to Alcantara, who was almost as good as Urias and pitched 31 percent more innings (228.2 to 175).

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pled the case for Urias last month, saying that Urias shouldn't be punished for pitching in a system like L.A.'s that doesn't expect or allow its starters to go as deep in games. The Dodgers have to plan to play through October — even though that sometimes doesn't happen and we don't want to talk about it — while Alcantara and his Marlins had a set end date to their season all year long.

Still, the Cy Young Award is generally based on what actually happened rather than what might have happened if things were different, so Alcantara's extra 53.2 innings will likely be the determining factor. Fried only pitched 10 more innings than Urias, not nearly enough to overcome the large gap between their ERAs, so Urias will likely finish second when the Cy Young winner is announced later this month.