Corey Kluber Wins BBWAA's 2017 AL Cy Young Award!

it's week two of the baseball awards and the Indians have yet another winner in their midst. this evening, on November 15, it was announced that Corey Kluber won Baseball Writers' Association of America's 2017 American League Cy Young Award! this is Kluber's second Cy Young of his career, having previously won it in 2014. congratulations, Klubes!👏

photo courtesy of @MLB on twitter

this year, Kluber was a Cy Young finalist along with Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox and Luis Severino of the New York Yankees. he finished with

What Went Wrong for the Cleveland Indians in the 2017 ALDS

it's all over but the crying. i think i've already used that as a lede in one of my older blogs, but it sure is appropriate again now. last night, the Cleveland Indians lost to the New York Yankees in the American League Division Series and were eliminated from postseason play. so what's next? the grieving period.😭 before anyone can look ahead, we must accept the reality and mourn what just happened if need be. part of that process for me involves going back over everything in my head and wondering why certain moves were or were not made.

typically, when things don't go the way we want them to, there's gonna be a scapegoat. and i know a lot of people are currently pointing their finger at the guy leading the charge, much to the players' dismay. the most i've ever criticized Terry Francona since he's been the manager here is by conceding that he can be too loyal to his players at times, particularly when they are struggling. i've never harshly gone in on him before, but i'm going in on him now.😠

photo courtesy of John Kuntz via The Plain Dealer

Tito had all the

Brantley's On the Cover of Sports Illustrated!

what does finishing 3rd in the 2014 American League Most Valuable Player voting get you? your very first cover of SI! yes, that's right. today, on March 24, Michael Brantley made his debut on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine! he shares the honor with 2014 American League Cy Young Award winner and teammate, Corey Kluber. they are both featured in an SI MLB Preview discussing why the Cleveland Indians could win the World Series in 2015. how exciting! here is the picture:

Corey Kluber Wins BBWAA's 2014 AL Cy Young Award!

way to go, CyKluber! today, on November 12, it was announced that Corey Kluber won Baseball Writers' Association of America's 2014 American League Cy Young Award! this is Kluber's first career Cy Young. he was a finalist along with Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners and Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox, and he won the award by 10 points.

photo courtesy of @Indians twitter

photo courtesy of @MLBastian twitter

after he was revealed as the winner, in typical stoic Klubot fashion, he looked off camera to his wife, Amanda, and gave her the thumbs up lol

photo cropped from a video on Indians.com

two writers in each American League city cast their ballots for this award before the conclusion of the regular season. a 1st place vote is worth 7 points, 2nd place is worth 4, 3rd place is worth 3, 4th place is worth 2, and 5th place is worth 1.

here are the complete AL Cy Young voting results:

Player, Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	Points
Corey Kluber, Indians	17	11	2			169
Felix Hernandez, Mariners	13	17				159
Chris Sale, White Sox		2	19	5	3	78
Jon Lester, Red Sox/Athletics			3	15	7	46
Max Scherzer, Tigers			4	6	8	32
David Price, Rays/Tigers			2	3	4	16
Phil Hughes, Twins				1	4	6
Wade Davis, Royals					3	3
Greg Holland, Royals					1	1

 *chart copy and pasted from BBWAA's website

Kluber and Hernandez were the only 2 players to appear on every individual ballot. Dennis Manoloff of The Plain Dealer and Jim Ingraham of The News-Herald were Cleveland's media voters for this award and, of course, they voted for our boy. to see all the individual ballots, click here.

now let's take a quick look back at some of Kluber's final #s for the 2014 season:
18-9 record
235.2 IP
269 K
51 BB
64 ER
2.44 ERA
2.35 FIP
34 G, 3 CG, 1 SHO

he also
--worked into the 7th inning in 26 of his 34 starts
--struck out 8 or more batters in 21 games
--struck out 10 or more batters in 11 games
--struck out a season-high 14 batters in a single game 2 times
**thanks to Hoynsie for these tidbits
 

photo courtesy of @ESPNStatsInfo twitter

and he did all that in his first full season in the big leagues and on a $514,000 salary. the bonus he received for winning this award is reportedly between just $10,000 and $25,000. hey, Cor, ask for a BIG raise in a long-term deal ;D

Kluber had this say about his first Cy Young: "yeah, it's pretty awesome. i definitely didn't expect it, so it's a pleasant surprise. i'm definitely surprised. it's a credit to all the hard work and stuff that i've put in through the past. a lot of people have helped me out along the way. a lot of things had to come together at the right time."

"when i switched to that [sinker] pitch instead of a four-seam fastball it really allowed me to command my fastball better, and that in turn made all my other pitches more effective. it all came together at the right time this year i guess."

has that slurve always been his go-to offspeed pitch? "uh yeah. it's kind of evolved over time. there's been, for the most part, the same grip since college, tweaking things here and there. because it's a pitch i've thrown for so long, it's something that i'm pretty comfortable with."

so what does he plan to work on to get better? "i think there's always room for improvement and i think you can improve every pitch, become more consistent with them. me personally, i think my biggest pitch that i can improve on is the changeup."

and how is he going to celebrate this momentous occasion? "probably go home and give my daughters a bath or something boring like that." well, Kendall and Kennedy are lucky little girls to have a father like him lol =D

photo courtesy of @AmandaKluber twitter

Kluber did another interview with MLB Tonight to talk about his award and his season. you can watch that one here.

prior to Kluber, the last Indians player to win the Cy Young Award was Cliff Lee in 2008. C.C. Sabathia and Gaylord Perry are the only other Indians to win Cy Youngs (2007 and 1972) in franchise history.

photo courtesy of @dmansworld474 twitter

Kluber became the ace of the Indians' pitching staff long before the Justin Masterson trade to the Cardinals on July 30. he's a true team leader and had one hell of an outstanding season. congratulations, Corey! well-deserved! =D