MLB Cy Young Odds 2020

Baseball is returning July 23 or 24 with a 60-game season, and pitchers across MLB will have little room for error while vying for the 2020 Cy Young award in the American and National Leagues. The betting odds have been adjusted at FanDuel Sportsbook to reflect the shortened season.

Making things more challenging for pitchers in the NL will be the institution of the universal designated hitter this season. The 60-game schedule will see every team play 10 games against each of their four divisional opponents, with another four games against each of the five teams in the corresponding division from the other league. The 2020 World Series will be decided via a 10-team playoff format.

Below, we look at the favorites and longshots by the odds to win the 2020 AL and NL Cy Young awards. When looking to place your MLB player futures bets, be sure to check the disclaimers at your preferred sportsbook. FanDuel states all teams must play 30-plus games for bets to stand.

MLB Cy Young odds

Best Cy Young betting site(s)

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Cy Young favorites and longshots

AL Cy Young

Gerrit Cole, New York Yankees (+280): The biggest free-agent signing of the offseason is a heavy favorite to be named the AL Cy Young winner, and he also has the lowest AL MVP odds of any pitcher. He has topped 200 innings in three straight seasons and logged a 13.82 K/9 against a 2.03 BB/9 in 2019. He’ll be leaned on heavily in the shortened season as the Yankees play without SPs Luis Severino (elbow) and Domingo German (suspension).

Justin Verlander, Houston Astros (+650): Verlander would have missed the original start of the season due to a groin injury, but he’s now expected to be ready for Opening Day. The Astros have one of the deepest pitching staffs in the AL and may choose to conserve innings and split the workload more evenly in order to preserve Verlander, Zack Greinke and, Lance McCullers for the postseason.

Shane Bieber, Cleveland Indians (+700): Bieber heads into his third MLB season as the new ace of the Indians rotation following trades of Trevor Bauer and Corey Kluber. He pitched to a 3.28 ERA and 15-8 record across 33 starts and 214 1/3 innings in 2019. Replacing the two established veterans could draw voter attention.

Hyun-Jin Ryu, Toronto Blue Jays (+3500): Ryu’s last two seasons were his best of a six-year stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went 14-5 over 29 starts and 182 2/3 innings in 2019, while pitching to a 2.32 ERA with just 0.84 home runs allowed per nine innings. Anchoring the rotation behind a potentially elite offense could make the Jays a big surprise in 2020.

Aroldis Chapman, New York Yankees (+7000): Chapman shares the longest odds to win the AL Cy Young with six others. The closer for the team heavily favored to win the AL isn’t a bad bet at a 70-1 return. Chapman could play in more games than any other AL pitcher.

NL Cy Young

Jacob deGrom, New York Mets (+350): deGrom is favored once again following a second straight NL Cy Young award. His 11-8 record as the result of atrocious run support was the only blemish on his 2019 stat line. The team should be improved this season, and he has topped 200 innings each of the last three years, so he’ll be leaned on heavily to get the Mets back to the playoffs.

Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals (+600): The biggest thing preventing Scherzer from the Cy Young award, outside of deGrom, is having to markedly outperform Stephen Strasburg (+1100) and Patrick Corbin (+1800) within the Nats rotation. He’ll turn 38 years old shortly after the season starts but has pitched to an ERA below 3.00 in all five years of his second stint in the NL. He has plenty of experience against the DH from his days with the Detroit Tigers.

Walker Buehler, Los Angeles Dodgers (+750): Buehler’s ascent over fellow Dodgers SP Clayton Kershaw (+1800) is made more evident with the odds to win the Cy Young. He has pitched to a 3.12 over his first 329 MLB innings with 10.34 strikeouts against 2.24 walks per nine innings. The ace of the World Series favorites is getting just the third-best odds to win the NL Cy Young.

Luis Castillo, Cincinnati Reds (+1300): Castillo broke out in 2019 with a 15-8 record over 32 starts and 190 2/3 innings. The Reds will need to lean on him heavily, but an improved bullpen and offense should get him wins. He does a great job of limiting fly balls, but he’ll need to lower his hard-contact rate of 37.3 percent of last season.

Kirby Yates, San Diego Padres (+8000): Like with Chapman in the AL, Yates has inflated odds as a closer. The Padres rotation will be vastly improved this season, and he should get some more save opportunities after converting 41 of 44 chances in 2019. He could also serve in longer relief when needed, as he did earlier in his career.

How to bet on the Cy Young

Placing an MLB futures bet on the AL or NL Cy Young award is all about mixing risk with reward. Your bet of choice will need to stay healthy and approach both 30 starts and 200 innings. This is made more complicated by needing to target pitchers likely to rack up more than 200 strikeouts.

Preseason odds are assigned based on past pitcher and team success, and they’ll be regularly updated throughout the season based on current performance, as well as the public’s betting action. The favorites, as seen above, generally are the aces of teams expected to get to the MLB playoffs. Getting top value means bettors need to correctly predict who’ll be the best pitcher on the team that will best exceed their expectations.

As mentioned earlier, many teams are stocked with two or even three “aces” in their starting five. This means that come voting season these pitchers will be sharing, or splitting, votes among themselves. It’s wise to target the more proven commodities on these teams, as they’re viewed as the de facto No. 1 option by those who aren’t true fans of the team.

The odds are best before the season, and they’ll become less and less profitable as the favorites emerge by May or June. deGrom, who went back-to-back last season, opened with +350 odds. This returned a profit of $350 on a $100 bet placed in March. Before his first Cy Young win in 2018, his +2500 odds would have returned a profit of $2,500 on a $100 futures bet.

Where can I bet on the Cy Young Award?

An extensive list of MLB futures odds, including AL and NL Cy Young, are available at all legal and regulated US sportsbooks, such as DraftKings Sportsbook, FanDuel Sportsbook, and PointsBet.

To access these odds, head to the primary MLB/Baseball tab at your online book of choice. From there, select Futures from a drop-down menu and proceed to Player Futures or Awards. The American and National League Cy Young contenders will be displayed on separate lists or charts. The betting options will include all pitchers (starters and relievers) the books view as viable Cy Young candidates. Emerging contenders will be added throughout the year and injured or struggling pitchers may be dropped from the options.

How the Cy Young Award is decided

As discussed above, players from the same team often need to split votes. This is because the Cy Young voters from the Baseball Writers’ Association of America are chosen from each MLB city. The local BBWAA chapter chairman of each city recommends two beat writers from daily newspapers, magazines or select websites. Writers from National League cities then vote for the NL Cy Young award and writers from American League cities vote for the AL Cy Young award.

Each writer is able to submit a ballot of five players for the Cy Young award. These ballots must be submitted prior to the start of the postseason and votes are then tallied based on a points system. A first-place vote is worth 7 points. Second-place is 4 points, third is 3 points, fourth is 2 points and a fifth-place vote is worth a single point.

Unlike with the MVP awards being open to the writer/voter’s interpretation of what Most Valuable Player may mean, the Cy Young simply goes to the best pitcher from either league. To be regarded as a top contender, pitchers must remain relatively healthy all season, and reach the desired statistical milestones of each voter.

The most hotly-debated issue when it comes to who’s worth a vote is “pitcher wins”. Some writers will discredit a hurler for finishing with a win-loss record below .500, or at least below another comparable pitcher. Others base their vote(s) purely on more individual pitcher statistics such as ERA, xFIP, and strikeout and walk rates.

Cy Young betting history: recent winners

Year	AL Winner	Odds	NL Winner	Odds
2019	Justin Verlander (HOU)	+1500	Jacob deGrom (NYM)	+350
2018	Blake Snell (TB)	+10000	Jacob deGrom (NYM)	+2500
2017	Corey Kluber (CLE)	+4000	Max Scherzer (WAS)	+350
2016	Rick Porcello (BOS)	+20000	Max Scherzer (WAS)	+10000
2015	Dallas Keuchel (HOU)	+15000	Jake Arrieta (CHC)	+4000
2014	Corey Kluber (CLE)	N/A	Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	+500
2013	Max Scherzer (DET)	+2000	Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	+600
2012	David Price (TB)	+700	R.A. Dickey (NYM)	N/A
2011	Justin Verlander (DET)	+1000	Clayton Kershaw (LAD)	+1500
2010	Felix Hernandez (SEA)	+500	Roy Halladay (PHI)	+250