Phillies ace receives surprising boost in crowded NL Cy Young race originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Jacob Misiorowski has the breathtaking ERA. Chris Sale has the overwhelming strikeout numbers. Zack Wheeler has the established reputation. ESPN's awards model still considers Cristopher Sánchez the pitcher to beat for the National League Cy Young Award.
Sánchez earned a 154.1 rating in the latest edition of ESPN's AXE rankings, placing him ahead of Milwaukee Brewers phenom Misiorowski at 150.5. Philadelphia Phillies teammate Jesús Luzardo ranked third at 140.7, followed by Cincinnati Reds starter Chase Burns and Sale. That makes Sánchez the statistical front-runner in one of baseball's most crowded award races, even though the betting markets have focused more heavily on Misiorowski and Sale.
"The consensus narrative seems to have turned against Sánchez, who has been at or near the top of the AXE leaderboard all season," ESPN's Bradford Doolittle wrote in the latest MLB Awards Watch.
Sánchez may not have the loudest Cy Young campaign. His season has been too good to ignore.

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