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Clayton Kershaw has won the NL Cy Young award three times in the last six seasons. The Los Angeles Dodgers ace will try to lead his team into the postseason and pick up another Cy Young award along the way in 2017.
Kershaw is going off at +100 on the odds to win the NL Cy Young award at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The left-handed star was well on his way to a third Cy Young award in four years last season before missing two months with an injured back. In 21 games, Kershaw pitched 149 innings with 172 strikeouts, a 1.69 ERA, and a 0.72 WHIP.
With a clean bill of health coming into the regular season, Kershaw is correctly the clear favorite to win this award.
Other top contenders in the National League include Max Scherzer (+300), Noah Syndergaard (+800), Madison Bumgarner (+900), Jake Arrieta (+1200), and Stephen Strasburg (+1400). Scherzer is the defending Cy Young award winner in the NL, coming off a 284-strikeout campaign in 2016, and he’s won the award twice in his career.
Chris Sale (+200 to win the AL Cy Young) has long been one of the most underrated pitchers in baseball, but that all changes with his move to the Boston Red Sox. Boston's elite offense helped Rick Porcello win the AL Cy Young award in 2016 with a 22-4 SU record, and if Sale continues to put up the numbers he did in Chicago then he should rack up plenty of wins this year.
Sale will try to hold off a talented group of pitchers in the American League that includes Corey Kluber (+300), David Price (+550), Carlos Carrasco (+1000), Justin Verlander (+1000), and Yu Darvish (+1000). Kluber and Verlander are both past Cy Young winners, and both had similar stats to Porcello last season but with better strikeout rates; however, Porcello's 22 wins put the Red Sox ace over the top. Price has also won the award in his career.
Over on offense, Giancarlo Stanton is the favorite on the odds to lead the league in home runs this season at +750 at the sportsbooks. Stanton is the hardest hitter in all of baseball, but his injury history makes him a risky play.
Other contenders for the home run title include 2016 winner Mark Trumbo (+2000), 2013 and 2015 winner Chris Davis (+1500), Nolan Arenado (+1250), Manny Machado (+1500), and Kris Bryant (+1600).