Philadelphia Phillies Ace Comes Agonizingly Close To First Cy Young Award Again

The Philadelphia Phillies ace finished second in Cy Young voting for the second time in his career, coming close to this prestigious award once again.

Sep 6, 2024; Miami, Florida, USA; Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler (45) looks on against the Miami Marlins during the fifth inning at loanDepot Park / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It's hard to say there's been a better overall starting pitcher in Major League Baseball than Zack Wheeler since he signed his original five-year, $118 million with the Philadelphia Phillies ahead of the 2020 season.

In fact, no starter has meant more to his team based on WAR than the ace.

He's been a workhorse, reaching the now-rare 200-plus innings mark twice in the past five years, putting up an eye-popping ERA+ that's 42 points above the league average.

Wheeler came close to winning his first Cy Young Award in 2021.

The right-hander was utterly dominant that season, finishing with the highest bWAR (7.5), most complete games (3), most shutouts (2), most innings pitched (213.1), and most strikeouts (247) in the National League while putting up an ERA of 2.78.

Yet, it was Corbin Burnes who was named the NL Cy Young winner, receiving more second place votes as the tiebreaker that give him a 10-point advantage to make it the closest finish in the award's history.

A tough pill to swallow for Wheeler, but based on how he performed, he would certainly be in the running again at some point.

That came this past season, with the Phillies ace once again proving just how valuable of a pitcher he is.

Unfortunately, he came up short once again.

Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Chris Sale took home his second Cy Young Award, getting 26 of the 30 first place votes while the other four went to Wheeler.

This now marks the second time he has been a runner-up, giving him another tough pill to swallow.

These results are more understandable since Sale won the Triple Crown of pitching this year with the most wins (18), lowest ERA (2.38), and most strikeouts (225) in the National League.

In fact, no pitcher who has won the Triple Crown has failed to be named the Cy Young winner, so the writing was on the wall that Wheeler would finish second again despite his teammates and organization openly stating their case to why they thought he should be named the NL's best pitcher.

At some point, though, Wheeler has to ask himself what he has to do to win this award.

He's been remarkably durable during this five-season stretch, something that scared teams off when he hit free agency based on the injury issues he had during his time with the New York Mets.

Whatever Philadelphia has done with him since he joined their franchise has worked wonders, allowing him to be effective while also constantly throwing deep into games and racking up innings throughout the year and into the playoffs.

But he will turn 35 next season, signaling he's on the backend of his career.

Wheeler hasn't shown any signs of slowing down so far, but at some point, Father Time catches up to everyone.

Hopefully, for his sake, that isn't before he's recognized as the best pitcher in baseball by taking home a Cy Young Award before he's done playing.