Sportsbooks online rarely have seen the Kansas City Royals making news but that changed on Tuesday when pitcher Zack Grienke won the American League Cy Young award. The Royals had a terrible season again versus the odds at the offshore sportsbook but every fifth day they had a chance to win when Grienke was on the mound.
Sportsbooks online had Grienke running away with the American League Cy Young, easily winning over second place finisher Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners. Grienke was 16-8 for a Kansas City team that was pathetic in sportsbooks online results. Grienke led the Major Leagues with a 2.16 ERA. He received 25 of 28 first place votes with Hernandez getting the other three. Grienke had 134 points which was well clear of what sportsbooks online saw Hernandez scoring, who got 80 points. Detroit’s Justin Verlander was third with 14 points while New York’s CC Sabathia was fourth with 13 points while Toronto’s Roy Halladay was next with 11 points.
Just how dominant was Grienke in sportsbooks online stats? His ERA is the lowest in the American League since Pedro Martinez had a 1.74 ERA in 2000. He had 242 strikeouts which was second in the league as sportsbooks online stats showed.
Two years ago in sportsbooks online action it was Grienke going 7-7 while he went 13-10 last year as offshore sportsbook stats showed. Grienke’s 16 wins are tied for the fewest ever for a Cy Young winner. Three years ago in sportsbooks online action it was Brandon Webb winning the NL Cy Young with 16 wins. It should be noted that only once in Major League history has a Cy Young winner pitched for a team that was worse than Kansas City. Steve Carlton was 27-10 with a 1.97 ERA for the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies who won just 59 games. Kansas City won just 65 games last sportsbooks online season. It the worst percentage of any American League Cy Young winner and it isn’t even close. The Royals winning percentage was just .401 as offshore sportsbook statistics show. Pat Hentgen won the award in 1996 and his Blue Jays had a winning percentage of .457.
Grienke easily could have won 20 games or perhaps as many as 25 versus the offshore sportsbook odds. The Royals scored just 13 runs in his eight losses and 21 runs in his nine no-decisions. Six times he allowed one run or none and didn’t get the sportsbooks online win. He was simply fantastic in April as he went 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA. He finished the sportsbooks online season superbly going 5-0 with a 1.29 ERA in his last eight starts.