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Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Spencer Strider. Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Top five National League Cy Young Award candidates

By John Gidley | Last updated 8/29/23

The 2023 Major League Baseball season is heading into the home stretch. Who will take home the hardware for the National League Cy Young Award, given annually to the best pitcher in the league? Here are the five top contenders in inverse order. (All statistics through Monday).

5. Josh Hader | San Diego Padres, LHP

KEY STAT: 0.79 ERA over 48 appearances

Only nine relief pitchers have earned a Cy Young Award, the last being Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003. Hader is a long shot for the award, but the Baseball Writers' Association of America members who vote for the award should give him some consideration. According to Stathead from Baseball Reference, Hader holds the relief pitcher record for the lowest ERA in National League history (minimum 48 games pitched).

4. Blake Snell | San Diego Padres, LHP

KEY STATS: 2.60 ERA, best among major league starters; 193 Ks, second in league.

He already has an American League Cy Young Award to his name thanks to a 21-5 campaign for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018. If he were to win another award this season, Snell would join Gaylord Perry, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and Max Scherzer as the only pitchers to win an American and National League Cy Young Award. Perry, Martinez, Halladay and Johnson are in the Hall of Fame. Not bad company to have.

Have a day, BlaKe #BringTheGold pic.twitter.com/hNXDFQ3ImZ
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) June 18, 2023

3. Justin Steele | Chicago Cubs, LHP

KEY STAT: 14-3 record, highest winning percentage in baseball (.824)

In just his third major league season, Steele is a breakout star for the Cubs with a 2.80 ERA, 133 strikeouts and 30 walks. Chicago's 27-15 record since the All-Star break is second only to the Dodgers for the best mark in the National League during that span. As the new ace of the second-place Cubs, Steele has been a major contributor in their recent postseason push.

With today’s win over Kansas City, @J_Steele21 has tied the @MLB lead for victories with 14. pic.twitter.com/QVVuQEzShi
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) August 19, 2023

2. Zac Gallen | Arizona Diamondbacks, RHP

KEY STAT: 182 strikeouts, fifth in majors

Gallen was the starting pitcher for the National League in the All-Star Game, and rightfully so. He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball all season. He is 14-6 with a 3.32 ERA and 37 walks in 173.1 innings. Gallen hopes to join Randy Johnson and Brandon Webb by becoming the third Diamondback to win the NL Cy Young Award.

Take a bow, @zacgallen23. pic.twitter.com/1URfBP8SsB
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) August 23, 2023

1. Spencer Strider | Atlanta Braves, RHP

KEY STATS: Most wins (15) and strikeouts (236) of any pitcher in the majors

Strider should be considered the favorite to take home the National League's highest pitching honor. He has an ERA on the higher side (3.46), but Baseball Reference estimates that Strider will finish the season with 309 strikeouts. This would make him the first National Leaguer with 300 K's in a season since 2018, when Max Scherzer did it for the Washington Nationals.

If Strider wins the Cy Young, he'll be the first Brave to do so since Tom Glavine in 1998. He has already struck out more batters than Glavine or Greg Maddux ever did in a season, and he's closing in on John Smoltz's live-ball era franchise record of 276 K's in 1996. A new era of pitching excellence has arrived in Atlanta.

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