National League Cy Young Award Odds & Picks

A different pitcher has taken home the NL Cy Young Award each of the last three seasons since Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer won it in back-to-back years from 2016-2019. The Miami Marlins produced their first-ever Cy Young Award winner last year when Sandy Alcantara took the National League by storm for a team that ended up finishing fourth in the NL East standings. Those that bought into the then 26-year old at PointsBet Sportsbook got to cash in a nice 20-1 ticket. But now that the cat is out of the bag, Alcantara is the +450 odds-on favorite to become the 12^th pitcher to win the award in back-to-back seasons. He ran away with the award last year in receiving all 30 first place votes. I think 2023 will be a bit more competitive much like the year prior when Corbin Burnes edged out Zack Wheeler. As such, here are my favorite, underdog, and longshot suggestions that will have a chance to take home the hardware.

NL Cy Young Award Odds at PointsBet Sportsbook

    *Remaining Players all 10-1 or greater

Favorite to Bet: Corbin Burnes +500

Of the five players currently offering up less than a 10-1 return to win the NL Cy Young Award, Corbin Burnes is the only one I’m confident backing before the “Boys of Summer” take to the playing fields. The 28-year old is in the prime of his career having pitched to a sub-3.00 ERA in three straight seasons while going for 167 and 202 innings pitched each of the last two. He’s durable, has evaded the injury bug, and is an innings-eater that’s averaged 5.9 and 6.1 innings pitched over the last two seasons.

He knows what it takes to get in the good graces of the voters having already won the NL Cy Young back in 2021. More importantly, he’ll take to the bump in 2023 with a major chip on his shoulder after losing his arbitration case with the Milwaukee Brewers in the offseason. Slated to be an unrestricted free agent in 2025, I fully expect a HAM effort put forth by the right-hander that’s ranked amongst the top-five in strikeouts the last two seasons with his 243 last season leading the National League. I expect nothing less than a third straight All-Star Game appearance from the burly fireballer with the end result being another double-digit win tally backed by one of the best K/9 outputs in the Bigs. This is the chalk to back on the NL Cy Young Award odds over at PointsBet!

Underdog to Bet: Hunter Greene +4000

I don’t exactly know what to make of the Cincinnati Reds entering the regular season. Linemakers expect Cincy to be a losing ball club evidenced by their 66.5-game season wins total paired with their odds of making the playoffs clocking in at 20-1. For reference sake, the expected NL Central winning St. Louis Cardinals odds of making another postseason appearance check in at -225. Needless to say, the Redlegs aren’t expected to win many games in 2023. That being said, that didn’t matter for Sandy Alcantara with Miami winners of just 69 total games a season ago.

Hunter Greene enters his sophomore campaign off a turbulent rookie season. He ended up 6-10 overall with a 4.02 ERA and 1.19 WHIP through 125+ innings of work while serving up 24 home runs. That’s a good amount of innings for a rookie arm, and I’m expecting him take another noticeable jump forward in terms of longevity in 2023. His success has everything to do with following his 99 mph velocity fastball with a wipeout slider that held left-handed batters to a laughable .205 batting average. It’s all about confidence for the youngster who really started to come into his own over the second half of last season. While walks are a concern (3.4/9), I’m expecting improvement in that stat category. Should that come to form, the sky’s the limit with his K/9 clocking in at an elite 11.7! This kids going for 200+ Ks in 2023 and will show marked improvement.

Longshot to Bet: Justin Steele +15000

I’m as guilty as any Chicago fan looking through Cubbie Blue tinted sunglasses, but I can’t say enough about how impressed I was with Justin Steele last season. While the 26-year old southpaw only went 4-7 with a 3.18 ERA and 1.35 WHIP through 119.0 innings pitched, it was the way he closed the year that really caught my attention. What would you say if I told you he pitched to a 0.98 ERA over 36+ innings in the second half? You’d say damn, right?! The output was better than guys like Robbie Ray, Spencer Strider, and Carlos Rodon!

His slider proved to be one of the best in the game with it producing a paltry .136 batting average against. Batters whiffed against it nearly 33 percent of the time, and it proved to be his strikeout pitch nearly 25 percent of the time. His curve also proved to be nasty in not allowing a single hit. If he figures out a way to incorporate his change of speed stuff with the fastball, the Chicago Cubs could have a bonafide ace on their hands! Before we drink too much of the Steele Kool-Aid, just know this is a lottery ticket and should be treated as such. Don’t invest anything more than the beer or pizza money you expect to doll out when the time comes.

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