Braves vs. Giants Friday MLB probable pitchers, odds: Spencer Strider faces Logan Webb in showdown of NL Cy Young Award contenders

It appears that the NL Cy Young Award race is down to four pitchers, and Friday night might be the last time this season that two of them face off as Spencer Strider and the Atlanta Braves open a series against Logan Webb and the San Francisco Giants. The Braves are -160 favorites on the SportsLine consensus with a low total of 7.5 runs. You won't see many Atlanta games with a total that low given the team's dynamic offense as seven players have at least 20 homers, by far most in the majors, a franchise record and one shy of the MLB mark set by the 2019 Twins. 

Arizona's Zac Gallen is the -105 Cy Young favorite and San Diego's Blake Snell is next at +320. I don't give Snell a great shot, as some voters will not list him because the Padres most likely will not be a playoff team and may well finish with a losing record. It shouldn't matter what a player's team does in regards to him winning an individual award, but some voters care about that.

Strider is the +350 third favorite – he has been favored a few times this year. The right-hander, the 2022 NL Rookie of the Year runner-up, is 14-4 with a 3.57 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and big-league leading 227 strikeouts. Strider has allowed just four hits and zero runs over 14 innings in his past two starts. He threw seven shutout innings with one hit allowed and 10 Ks last Friday in Atlanta against the Giants.

He now has 16 double-digit strikeout performances through his first 45 career starts and 10 through his first 25 outings this year. Those 16 double-digit games are three more than any other pitcher dating back to May 30, 2022, when he made his first MLB start. Strider has joined Hall of Famer John Smoltz as the only pitchers in franchise history with at least 10 double-digit strikeout games in a season (Smoltz had 12 in 1996). 

Strider's 3.57 ERA would be high for a Cy Young winner. The last winner in either league with an ERA north of 3.00 was Boston's Rick Porcello in 2016 when he was 22-4 with a 3.15 ERA. The last NL winner was Arizona's Brandon Webb in 2006 when he was 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA.

San Francisco's Webb is +1000 to win the NL Cy Young and is 9-9 with a 3.36 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 162 strikeouts in 26 starts. Are those Cy Young  numbers? Not really, but Webb is second in the majors with 169.0 innings pitched and leads MLB in ground ball rate at 60.0%. He rarely walks batters, having given out 26 free passes on the year, and his walk rate of 1.4 per nine innings is third in the majors.

Webb took a no-decision in Atlanta last Saturday, allowing four runs and nine hits over six innings. In his previous five starts, he had a 2.20 ERA with only two walks over 28.2 innings.

While Webb is listed at Over/Under 2.5 runs tonight with the Over a -160 favorite, Strider is set at 1.5 with the Under a -125 leader. 

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