ESPN Host: Baseball Analytics "Hijacked" the NL Cy Young for Jacob deGrom

In Major League Baseball, there’s a war about WAR (wins above replacement).

That statistic, which theoretically combines almost every other stat to get one figure which reflects a player’s true worth, has been embraced in recent years by MVP voters despite protests from the game’s old guard.

It’s also the primary reason why Jacob deGrom, who led all pitchers in the statistic (8.8), was voted as the National League’s Cy Young winner despite only winning 10 games.

The runner-up to deGrom, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals, won 18 games and had a WAR of 7.2. In their other keys numbers, the two players were fairly close as deGrom ended the year with a 1.70 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP and Scherzer closed 2018 with a 2.53 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. To his credit, Scherzer also had 300 strikeouts.

Despite being so close, deGrom won the award on Wednesday and received 29 of 30 first-place votes in the process.

Michael Wilbon, the co-host of Pardon The Interruption, was critical of the vote and the way voters have embraced analytics in recent years.

“You know, Tony [Kornheiser], I’m not with these people. I don’t respect their judgment, actually, because I don’t value what they value,” Wilbon said. “I value winning the damn game more than the ERA! And therefore, it is analytical hijacking. These people have hijacked baseball, they want to impose their will and tell you what’s important. I don’t share most of, maybe none of, their values, and it’s absurd.”

LOOK AT THIS CLOWN. pic.twitter.com/7sabOVqcTn

— Amy (@akfanch) November 15, 2018

The lone dissenter against deGrom was San Diego Union-Tribune reporter John Maffei. He explained his choice to The Washington Post and said he was “stunned” he was the only one to give a first-place vote to Scherzer.

“I’m absolutely aware of the analytics,” Maffei said. “I do think that wins and losses are somewhat out of your control, but they’re also somewhat in your control. You need to pitch out of situations. There are times when you absolutely need to get out of a situation, you need a strikeout, or you need a groundball. You end up spiking a curveball and it goes to the backstop and you give up a run. That’s in your control. It’s something you look at.”