Astros’ right-hander Justin Verlander was a unanimous selection for the American League Cy Young Award, making him the 11th pitcher to win the award at least three times.
Roger Clemens holds the record with seven (six in the American League, one in the National League). Randy Johnson won five times (four in the NL, one in the AL) and Steve Carlton and Greg Maddux four times each (all in the NL). Other three-time winners: Max Scherzer (two in the NL, one in the AL), Clayton Kershaw (all in the NL), Pedro Martinez (two in the AL, one in the NL), Jim Palmer (all in the AL), Tom Seaver (all in the NL) and Sandy Koufax (all in the NL).
It marks the 11th time an AL pitcher has been a unanimous choice for the award and the second time for Verlander, who was also unanimous when first honored in 2011 with the Tigers. Verlander’s other Cy Young Award victory was with the Astros in 2019. He is fourth AL pitcher with two unanimous victories, joining Clemens with the Red Sox in 1986 and the Blue Jays in 1998, Johan Santana with the Twins in 2004 and 2006 and Pedro Martinez with the Red Sox in 1999 and 2000 (Martinez also won in the NL with the Expos in 1997 but not unanimously). The other unanimous AL winners were the Tigers’ Denny McLain in 1968 and the Yankees’ Ron Guidry in 1978 and the Guardians’ Shane Bieber in 2020. There have been 15 unanimous Cy Young Award winners in the NL.
This is only the second time in Cy Young Award voting, which dates to 1956, that the winners in both leagues in the same season were unanimous. The other year was 1968 with McLain in the AL and the Cardinals’ Bob Gibson in the NL.
Verlander’s victory is the fifth for a Houston pitcher in Cy Young balloting and the third since the Astros moved to the AL in 2013. The other AL winner was Dallas Keuchel in 2015. There were two Astros winners during their 51 seasons in the NL: Mike Scott in 1986 and Clemens in 2004.
Verlander, Dylan Cease and Alek Manoah were named on every ballot.
Ballots, submitted prior to postseason play, were cast by two writers representing each league city. They are tabulated on a system that awards seven points for first place, four points for second place, three points for third place, two votes for fourth place and one point for fifth place.
2022 AL Cy Young
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Justin Verlander, Astros | 30 | 210 | ||||
| Dylan Cease, White Sox | 14 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 97 | |
| Alek Manoah, Blue Jays | 7 | 13 | 10 | 87 | ||
| Shohei Ohtani, Angels | 9 | 7 | 12 | 1 | 82 | |
| Framber Valdez, Astros | 1 | 12 | 14 | |||
| Shane McClanahan, Rays | 1 | 8 | 10 | |||
| Shane Bieber, Guardians | 1 | 3 | 5 | |||
| Nestor Cortes, Yankees | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Gerrit Cole, Yankees | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays | 1 | 1 |
Below is a breakdown of the 30 individual ballots, submitted by two writers representing each city in the American League. For more information on the voting, see our Voting FAQ.
| Name | Affiliation | Chapter | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Noah Trister | The Associated Press | BAL | Verlander | Ohtani | Cease | Manoah | Valdez |
| Steve Melewski | MASNSports.com | BAL | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | McClanahan |
| Christopher Smith | MassLive.com | BOS | Verlander | Manoah | Cease | Ohtani | McClanahan |
| Chad Jennings | The Athletic | BOS | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | McClanahan |
| James Fegan | The Athletic | CHI | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | Valdez |
| LaMond Pope | Chicago Tribune | CHI | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | McClanahan |
| Zack Meisel | The Athletic | CLE | Verlander | Ohtani | Cease | Manoah | Bieber |
| Joe Noga | cleveland.com | CLE | Verlander | Ohtani | Manoah | Bieber | Cease |
| Evan Woodbery | MLive Media Group | DET | Verlander | Ohtani | Manoah | Cease | Bieber |
| Chris McCosky | Detroit News | DET | Verlander | Cease | Ohtani | Manoah | Cortes |
| Kristie Rieken | The Associated Press | HOU | Verlander | Cease | Ohtani | Manoah | Valdez |
| Brian McTaggart | MLB.com | HOU | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Valdez | Bieber |
| Jen McCaffrey | The Athletic | *KC | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | Valdez |
| Lynn Worthy | Kansas City Star | KC | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | McClanahan | Ohtani |
| Yuichi Matsushita | Kyodo News | LA | Verlander | Ohtani | Manoah | Cease | Valdez |
| Rhett Bollinger | MLB.com | LA | Verlander | Ohtani | Cease | Manoah | Valdez |
| Do-Hyoung Park | MLB.com | MIN | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | Valdez |
| Aaron Gleeman | The Athletic | MIN | Verlander | Cease | Ohtani | Manoah | Valdez |
| Randy Miller | NJ Advance Media | NY | Verlander | Manoah | Ohtani | Cease | Cortes |
| Bryan Hoch | MLB.com | NY | Verlander | Manoah | Cease | Ohtani | Cortes |
| Martín Gallegos | MLB.com | OAK | Verlander | Ohtani | Cease | Manoah | Valdez |
| Eno Sarris | The Athletic | OAK | Verlander | Ohtani | Cease | Manoah | McClanahan |
| Ryan Divish | Seattle Times | SEA | Verlander | Ohtani | Cease | Manoah | Valdez |
| Larry Stone | Seattle Times | SEA | Verlander | Cease | Ohtani | Manoah | Valdez |
| Mark Didtler | Associated Press Freelancer | TB | Verlander | Manoah | Cease | Ohtani | McClanahan |
| John Romano | Tampa Bay Times | TB | Verlander | Manoah | Cease | Ohtani | McClanahan |
| Joseph Hoyt | Dallas Morning News | TEX | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | Valdez |
| Jeff Wilson | Rangers Today | TEX | Verlander | Manoah | Ohtani | Cease | McClanahan |
| Rosie DiManno | Toronto Star | TOR | Verlander | Manoah | Ohtani | Cease | Cole |
| Keegan Matheson | MLB.com | TOR | Verlander | Cease | Manoah | Ohtani | Gausman |
* Voter filling spot outside his/her home chapter.