Good pitching is an art form, one that is very entertaining, which is one reason why Cy Young Award betting is popular in Florida. You can make futures bets on who will win the AL and NL Cy Young Awards at retail sportsbooks in Florida as well as online at Hard Rock Bet.
Here’s a full guide to making those Cy Young Awards bets including information about the award and strategies for deciding which pitchers might worth wagering on to win.
Best Florida sportsbooks for Cy Young betting
Right now when it comes to online sports betting Hard Rock Bet is the only option for those in Florida, although social sportsbooks like Fliff are also available. There you can bet on games involving the the Miami Marlins, the Tampa Bay Rays or on any other baseball team.
Meanwhile, although at present the number of Florida sportsbooks is limited, there are a number of top sites available elsewhere that offer Cy Young Award betting as well, including:
- DraftKings Sportsbook: DraftKings began as a daily fantasy sports website but has evolved into a sports betting leader, as well. It offers bets on all the major sports in the US and worldwide. New customers to the site can receive a DraftKings deposit bonus when they sign up and put money into their accounts.
- BetMGM Sportsbook: Plenty of people are likely familiar with the MGM brand as it’s one of the largest in the entertainment and gambling space. It has now begun to expand into online gambling and, for the purposes of this page, online sports betting. One of the major benefits of BetMGM Sportsbook is the fact that its rewards system applies across all of its various products. Make enough wagers and you could claim perks such as a hotel stay or another bonus.
- Caesars Sportsbook: Caesars is another recognizable name in gambling that has increased its reach in the sports betting industry with a sportsbook website and app as well as an array of physical sportsbooks. The primary Caesars Sportsbook promotion for new customers is a bonus bet. New players can place a wager and receive a refund of a bonus bet if that first bet loses.
Cy Young futures explained
While sportsbooks conceal the exact formulas and processes that they use to determine the odds for betting markets like Cy Young futures, we do have a good sense of the general things that go into the creation of these lines. One of the major factors is the use of advanced mathematical models that attempt to predict the upcoming season.
The large sportsbooks have access to some of the most exact data and best analytics in the world. They also have some smart people to help them build the lines. Every sportsbook will employ veterans of the industry who have the experience to know how to tweak the lines to achieve their goals.
Once sportsbooks set the odds, they will monitor where most of the bets are going and adjust the lines to avoid being on the hook to pay out a huge sum. This means that the odds will shift frequently.
One thing to note is what your sportsbook’s policy is in case of exceptional circumstances. One good example is the pandemic and how it altered the length and structure of many professional sports leagues’ schedules. Sportsbooks handled the situation differently, as some voided all bets while others suspended some bets and then later acknowledged them.
Cy Young betting data
Before placing your first wager, here are some Cy Young betting tips to help you out. To some extent, looking at the characteristics of past winners can provide lessons for future bets.
One thing to note when betting on the Cy Young Award is how statistics have changed how voters judge player success. Baseball betting has embraced its analytics revolution, which has been reflected in the winners of the Cy Young Award. While before, the pitchers were judged mostly on their basic counting stats (such as wins, ERA and strikeouts, with an emphasis on wins), the voters have evolved to consider more advanced stats.
A great example is Felix Hernandez winning the AL Cy Young Award in 2010 while playing for the Seattle Mariners. He finished the season with a 13-12 record but routinely pitched very well. Those who supported him pointed out that he didn’t get the same run support as other pitchers, and it led to some fierce debates.
In 2021, the two Cy Young Award winners combined to win 24 games (13 for Robbie Ray of the Blue Jays, and 11 for Corbin Burnes of the Brewers). Wins are not always a great predictor of the award winner, in most cases.
While advanced stats are becoming more and more important and voters are recognizing that players should be able to win the award even if their won-loss record isn’t great, it’s still rare to see the award go to a pitcher on a truly bad team, so keep that in mind, as well.
Betting on past winners may be an interesting idea, as there have been many pitchers who’ve won multiple Cy Youngs. However, those who win more than once tend to be future Hall of Famers. So if you’re thinking about betting on a player to repeat as a winner, you likely want your pick to be one of the best of his generation.
When debating which league you should place your bet in, there is not much difference. The addition of the DH doesn’t mean too much because the Cy Young Award is focused on what a pitcher does on the mound. You should bet on whichever league has the better value option.
Recent Cy Young winners
Here are the winners for the Cy Young Award for both leagues over the past 10 years:
| Year | NL Winner | AL Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Blake Snell | Gerrit Cole |
| 2022 | Justin Verlander | Sandy Alcantara |
| 2021 | Corbin Burnes | Robbie Ray |
| 2020 | Trevor Bauer | Shane Bieber |
| 2019 | Jacob deGrom | Justin Verlander |
| 2018 | Jacob deGrom | Blake Snell |
| 2017 | Max Scherzer | Cory Kluber |
| 2016 | Max Scherzer | Rick Procello |
| 2015 | Jake Arrieta | Dallas Keuchel |
| 2014 | Clayton Kershaw | Cory Kluber |
Other MLB futures bets
While the Cy Young Award is one of the most prestigious in all of baseball and one that sees a lot of bets, other MLB futures markets are also popular with sports bettors.
As you might imagine, one of the most popular futures markets is betting on which team will be the eventual World Series champion. Additional baseball futures bets appear in the list below. If you enjoy the style of futures betting and want to find other options besides betting on the Cy Young Award, take a peek at this list:
- Division winners
- Season win totals odds
- MLB MVP winner odds (each league)
- Team to make the playoffs
When is the Cy Young awarded?
MLB announces the Cy Young Award in mid-November, around the same time as the rest of its major awards. Some years there is an obvious candidate who has run away with it and has MLB Cy Young odds that reflect that high probability, while other years it comes down to the wire with many pitchers having a chance.
Knowing when to place a bet on the Cy Young winner is a crucial skill that can drastically change the potential winnings you see from your wager. Waiting too long may destroy all the value in your bet as the winner becomes obvious and the Cy Young betting odds are too small for a meaningful win. On the other hand, betting too early in the season means you would have little information to go on, making it much trickier to pick a winner. That’s why it’s a balancing act to pick the right time to make a bet.
Who picks the Cy Young winners?
The Cy Young Award is voted on by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. For each league’s award, two writers representing each city with a team in the league will get a vote. That makes a total of 30 voters on each league’s award. Voters rank five pitchers each, and different ranks have different point values. The winner of the award is the pitcher who gets the most points across all the voters.
Despite the inclusion of voters from each city in the league, pitchers from large markets may still see a slight boost because they receive extra media attention, though such a boost can be tough to quantify.
It is possible to have a tie for the Cy Young Award if two pitchers receive the same number of points. However, the system makes it very difficult for two pitchers to have the same total. That’s why the last tie in Cy Young voting happened in the American League in 1969, long before the current voting system was in place.
Have any Florida pitchers won the Cy Young Award?
Three pitchers have won the Cy Young Award while playing for teams in Florida. In 2012, David Price won the award while playing for the Tampa Bay Rays. He finished that season with a record of 20-5, an ERA of 2.56 and 205 strikeouts.
In 2018, Blake Snell became the second pitcher to win the award while playing for the Rays. He finished the season with a record of 21-5, an ERA of 1.89 and 221 strikeouts. These two remain the only two Rays pitchers to win the award so far, though the team has a strong pitching staff that could produce another winner soon.
In 2022, the Miami Marlins produced their first Cy Young winner in Sandy Alcántara, who posted a 2.28 ERA and struck out 207 batters.
Who has the most Cy Young Awards?
Roger Clemens has won the most Cy Young Awards with a total of seven. So far, nobody else in baseball history has won more than five. Clemens also has the distinction of being the only pitcher to win the award on more than two different teams, as he won it while pitching for four separate franchises.
Clemens also had a long period in between his first and last victories, with a stunning eighteen years between the two. He has yet to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame due to the rumored use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Among current pitchers, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, and Max Scherzer have the most Cy Young Awards with three each.