Its absolutely insane that Nola Ryan did not win a Cy Young Award

He never won a lot of games probably.

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i'd be curious to see who beat him out these years.

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Fernando Valenzuela in 1981 and Steve Bedrosian in 1987.

wait he led the NL in ERA and was 8-16?

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

Have you ever noticed how Fernando Valenzuela just doesn't even look when he pitches? He's a Mayan Indian. Or an Aztec. I forget which one. I get them confused.

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wait he led the NL in ERA and was 8-16?

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

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exactly.

fricking insane.

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dude had 7 no hitters (all time leader), is the MLB all time strike out leader, 8 time all star, led the NL in ERA twice, 11 time season strike out leader...............and never won a Cy Young.

How is that possible?

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The reason is that Ryan was an extremely frustrating pitcher to watch. He's the greatest power pitcher of all-time yet he didn't have a season with a strikeout to walk ratio above 2.5:1 until his 17th season due to his mentality of always wanting to strike out hitters no matter the count or the situation. He threw 277 wild pitches which is the most since 1900, was terrible at holding baserunners leading the league in stolen bases allowed eight times, and was an atrocious fielder with a ghastly career fielding percentage of .895. He also gave up six or more runs in a game 99 times. That's a lot of games where Ryan gave his team virtually no chance of winning. Speaking of wins, Ryan also only had five seasons with a winning percentage above .600 and never led the league in wins. When you add all of those things up, it's pretty easy to see why the writers never voted for Ryan to win a Cy Young. They were in awe of his abilities but his flaws were so considerable that it prevented Ryan from being the best pitcher in his league for pretty much his entire career.

Nolan Ryan is overrated. He was good for a long time but never elite. Check his stats. He was great at strike outs when he was on but a lot of times he was very hittable.

Nolan Ryan was great but he's also overrated

All time leader in walks, wild pitches, and and third in losses. He played 27 seasons and only had 324 wins. Sure that's a lot cumulatively speaking but it only averages to a little over 10 wins a season

Dude could ball - but he had his flaws

Well that's the knock against him.

We all love strikeouts and no-hitters and Paul Bunyon type things but Ryan played FOREVER!!!!!! to get all those strikeouts but was never good enough to win the Cy Young award.

People forget he was traded in the 70's because he was so wild.

Cy Young award winners hit the strike zone.

1973 he lost to Jim Palmer
Palmer: 22-9 2.40 ERA 19 Complete Games 6 Shut Outs 158 K
Ryan: 21-16 2.87 ERA 26 Complete Games 1 Shut Out 383 K

1974 he finished 3rd to Catfish Hunter and Fergie Jenkins
Hunter: 25-12 2.49 ERA 23 CG 6 SHO 143 K
Jenkins: 25-12 2.82 ERA 29 CG 6 SHO 225 K
Ryan: 22-16 2.89 ERA 26 CG 3 SHO 367 K

1981 Ryan led league in ERA and finished 4th behind Valenzuela, Seaver, and Carlton
Valenzuela: 13-7 2.48 ERA 11 CG 8 SHO 180 K
Seaver: 14-2 2.54 ERA 6 CG 1 SHO 87 K
Carlton: 13-4 2.42 ERA 10 CG 1 SHO 179 K
Ryan: 11-5 1.69 ERA 5 CG 3 SHO 140 K


1987 is a travesty, Hershiser and Rueschel are only two who I think you could have made an argument for over Ryan.