The 25 Best MLB Pitchers Since 1990 to Never Win a Cy Young Award
Yesterday, we looked at the best MLB players in recent memory who never won a MVP award.
Now it's time for the pitchers.
Ahead, we've highlighted the 25 best players since 1990 who did not win a Cy Young award during their careers, and while there are a couple active players on this list, it's mostly made up of recently retired stars. Players are ranked based on their career body of work and their Cy Young potential at their peak.
New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was not included in these rankings since all signs point to him being a lock to finally win his first Cy Young this year.
In order to be considered for inclusion, a player had to have received at least one Cy Young vote since 1990, so while some of these names were in their prime prior to that cut-off, they were still relevant stars on the other side of it.
RHP A.J. Burnett
RHP Matt Cain
RHP Johnny Cueto
RHP Craig Kimbrel
LHP Mark Langston
RHP Derek Lowe
LHP Jamie Moyer
RHP Hideo Nomo
RHP Brad Radke
LHP Kenny Rogers
RHP Jason Schmidt
RHP Dave Stewart
RHP Javier Vázquez
RHP Tim Wakefield
RHP Zack Wheeler
RHP Kerry Wood
RHP Carlos Zambrano
25. RHP John Lackey
Best Finish: 3rd in 2007
Lackey started Game 7 of the World Series as a rookie in 2002 before developing into one of the best workhorses of his era. His best Cy Young finish came in 2007 when he finished 19-9 with an AL-best 3.01 ERA in 224 innings. He was also one of the best postseason pitchers of his era with a 3.44 ERA in 144 playoff innings.
24. RHP Kevin Appier
Best Finish: 3rd in 1993
One of the most underrated pitchers of the 1990s, Appier tallied 47.6 WAR during the decade, a total that trailed only Roger Clemens (68.1), Greg Maddux (65.4), David Cone (52.9), Randy Johnson (52.1) and Kevin Brown (48.1). Despite that success, the only season where he received Cy Young votes was 1993 when he finished 18-8 with a 2.56 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 238.2 innings.
23. RHP Jered Weaver
Best Finish: 2nd in 2011
During a three-year stretch from 2010 through 2012, Weaver went 51-25 with a 2.73 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 648.2 innings, finishing in the top five in AL Cy Young voting each year. He led the AL in strikeouts (233) in 2010 and both wins (20) and WHIP (1.02) in 2012, but his best Cy Young finish was 2011 when he went 18-8 with a 2.41 ERA and 1.01 WHIP in 235.2 innings to finish runner-up to Justin Verlander.
22. LHP Chuck Finley
Best Finish: 7th in 1990
Finley spent the entire 1990s as the ace of the staff for the Angels, and he won an even 200 games in his career with a 3.85 ERA and 2,610 strikeouts in 3,197.1 innings. The left-hander only received Cy Young votes once, finishing seventh in the balloting in 1990 when he went 18-9 with a 2.40 ERA, 1.23 WHIP and 177 strikeouts in 236 innings.
21. RHP Yu Darvish
Best Finish: 2nd in 2013 and 2020
Darvish was already 25 years old with a solid run of success in the Japanese League under his belt when he made the jump stateside and joined the Texas Rangers. Armed with a dizzying array of pitches, he immediately became one of MLB's best strikeout pitchers, and he was AL Cy Young runner-up in his second full season in 2013 and NL Cy Young runner-up with the Chicago Cubs during the shortened 2020 campaign.
20. RHP José Rijo
Best Finish: 4th in 1991
Rijo had a short peak in the big leagues, and he only pitched 1,880 innings in his career, but in the early 1990s he was as good as any pitcher in baseball. Over his first seven seasons in Cincinnati, he had a 2.63 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 1,139 strikeouts in 1,315 innings, and he won World Series MVP in 1990 when he led the underdog Reds to victory over the heavily-favored Oakland Athletics.
19. LHP Jimmy Key
Best Finish: 2nd in 1987 and 1994
Key enjoyed an underrated 15-year career spent mostly with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees, and he took turns as the ace of the staff with both franchises. He led the AL in ERA (2.76) and WHIP (1.06) in 1987 when he was runner-up to Roger Clemens in Cy Young voting, and he went 17-4 with a 3.27 ERA over 25 starts during the strike-shortened 1994 season in his second year with the Yankees to finish second to David Cone in the balloting.
18. RHP Josh Beckett
Best Finish: 2nd in 2007
The No. 2 overall pick in the 1999 draft and the No. 1 prospect in baseball at the start of the 2002 season, Beckett dealt with some injuries and inconsistency in his career, but at his best he lived up to the hype as a true staff ace. He went 20-7 with a 3.27 ERA, 1.14 WHIP and 194 strikeouts in 200.2 innings in 2007 to trail only CC Sabathia in the AL Cy Young race. While he never won a Cy Young, the postseason star does have 2003 World Series MVP and 2007 ALCS MVP on his resume.
17. LHP Cole Hamels
Best Finish: 5th in 2011
Hamels looked like a lock to win Cy Young honors at some point in his career after he took home NLCS and World Series MVP honors as a 24-year-old in 2008. He did develop into a legitimate frontline starter in some stacked Philadelphia rotations, and he finished in the top 10 in voting four times in 10 seasons with the Phillies, but he never came in higher than fifth in the balloting.
16. LHP David Wells
Best Finish: 3rd in 1998 and 2000
A burly left-hander who began his career as a reliever/swingman on those terrific Toronto Blue Jays teams of the early 1990s, Wells eventually claimed a full-time spot in the rotation and later etched his name in the history books with a perfect game as a member of the New York Yankees. His 1998 (18-4, 3.49 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 214.1 IP) and 2000 (20-8, 4.11 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 229.2 IP) seasons both earned him a third-place finish in AL voting, and he continued to pitch well into his mid-40s.
15. RHP Tim Hudson
Best Finish: 2nd in 2000
A 20-game winner in his first full season in the majors in 2000, Hudson finished a distant second to an otherworldly Pedro Martinez in the AL Cy Young voting that year. He would later join Barry Zito and Mark Mulder to form an exciting young Big Three in Oakland before solid runs with the Atlanta Braves and San Francisco Giants over a 17-year career.
14. LHP Jon Lester
Best Finish: 2nd in 2016
Lester won World Series rings with the Boston Red Sox in 2007 and 2013, then joined the Chicago Cubs as the missing piece to their long-awaited title run in 2016. He went 19-5 with a 2.44 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 202.2 innings during the 2016 season to finish runner-up to Max Scherzer in Cy Young voting, and he also had a pair of fourth-place finishes during his time in Boston.
13. LHP Billy Wagner
Best Finish: 4th in 1999
Wagner is one of the most dominant closers in MLB history and should take his rightful place in Cooperstown in the next few years after receiving 68.1 percent of the vote in his eighth time on the ballot last year. Closers always face an uphill battle in Cy Young voting, so it's a testament to his abilities that he has two top-10 finishes with a fourth in 1999 and a sixth in 2006.
12. RHP Stephen Strasburg
Best Finish: 3rd in 2017
The end of his career was a forgettable mess of injuries and an albatross contract, but Strasburg was a dynamic, overpowering ace in his prime when he was healthy. He finished in the top 10 in NL voting in 2014 when he had an NL-leading 242 strikeouts and 2019 when he led the league in wins (18) and innings pitched (209), but his best finish was a third place in 2017 when he went 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 204 strikeouts in 175.1 innings.
11. LHP Mark Buehrle
Best Finish: 5th in 2005
Buehrle was more workhorse than a true frontline starter, but his career body of work is impressive enough to earn him a spot on this list just outside the top 10. The left-hander recorded 14 straight seasons with at least 200 innings pitched, tossing a no-hitter and a perfect game along the way. However, the only time he received Cy Young votes was in 2005 when he went 16-8 with a 3.12 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 236.2 innings for a White Sox team that went on to win the World Series.
10. RHP Roy Oswalt
Best Finish: 3rd in 2004
Oswalt finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times over his first six seasons in the majors, going 98-47 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 1,016 strikeouts in 1,201.1 innings during that impressive stretch. His first of consecutive 20-win seasons in 2004 earned him his highest finish in the voting as he checked in behind teammate Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson.
9. LHP Andy Pettitte
Best Finish: 2nd in 1996
A postseason staple at the peak of the New York Yankees dynasty who went 19-11 with a 3.81 ERA in 276.2 career playoff innings, Pettitte had his best Cy Young finish during the 1996 season when that legendary Yankees core won their first title. The left-hander finished 21-8 with a 3.87 ERA in 221 innings in just his second season in the majors to garner 11 of 28 first-place votes and narrowly lost out to Pat Hentgen in a tight voting race.
8. RHP Kevin Brown
Best Finish: 2nd in 1996
Brown should have won NL Cy Young honors with the Florida Marlins in 1996 when he finished 17-11 with a 1.89 ERA in 233 innings, but voters still cared more about wins than anything else at that time, so John Smoltz won by going 24-8 with a 2.94 ERA in 253.2 innings. All told, Brown finished in the top 10 in voting five times in his 19-year career.
7. LHP Madison Bumgarner
Best Finish: 4th in 2014 and 2016
For all his postseason heroics, Bumgarner was never the best pitcher in baseball during the regular season at any point in his career. During the four-year stretch from 2013 to 2016, he went 64-37 with a 2.86 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 903 strikeouts in 863.2 innings while landing in the top 10 in NL Cy Young voting every year, but never higher than fourth in the balloting.
6. RHP Trevor Hoffman
Best Finish: 2nd in 1998 and 2006
When it comes to the greatest relief pitchers in MLB history, it's Mariano Rivera and then everyone else, but Hoffman has a strong case for being at the top of that everyone else group. His 601 saves rank second on the all-time list, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018, and he has a pair of second-place Cy Young finishes on his resume in 1998 (53/54 SV, 1.48 ERA, 10.6 K/9) and 2006 (46/51 SV, 2.14 ERA, 7.1 K/9).
Best Finish: 2nd in 2010 and 2013
Adam Wainwright recently put what is expected to be the finishing touches on a terrific 18-year career when he picked up his 200th career win with seven shutout innings against the NL Central division-winning Milwaukee Brewers.
After a breakout season in 2009 where he finished third in NL Cy Young voting, he was runner-up to Roy Halladay the following year by going 20-11 with a 2.42 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 213 strikeouts in 230.1 innings.
His 2011 season was erased by Tommy John surgery and he spent 2012 shaking off the rust, but he returned to peak form again in 2013 to finish 19-9 with a 2.94 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 219 strikeouts in 241.2 innings. That earned him another second-place finish, this time behind Clayton Kershaw.
Best Finish: 2nd in 2017
It's hard to believe that peak Chris Sale never won a Cy Young Award.
From his first season in the Chicago White Sox rotation in 2012 through his final elite-level campaign in a Boston Red Sox uniform in 2018, he went 99-59 with a 2.91 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 1,678 strikeouts in 1,388 innings.
He finished in the top-six in Cy Young voting every year during that seven-year stretch, with his best finish coming in 2017 when he racked up a career-high 308 strikeouts in 214.1 innings to go along with a 2.90 ERA and 0.97 WHIP.
However, Cleveland ace Corey Kluber had the edge in ERA (2.25) and WHIP (0.87) and won the award handily.
Best Finish: 3rd in 1981 and 1983
Jack Morris was the wins leader of the 1980s and had his best Cy Young finishes in 1981 and 1983 as the ace of the staff for the Detroit Tigers, but he was still going strong into the 1990s to earn a place in these rankings.
In 1991, he went 18-12 with a 3.43 ERA in 246.2 innings pitching on a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins to finish fourth in the voting. He would carry them all the way to a World Series title, pitching his legendary 10-inning shutout in Game 7 of the World Series.
The following year, he joined the Toronto Blue Jays and finished 21-6 with a 4.04 ERA in 240.2 innings to check-in fifth in the balloting and again help his team to a World Series title. He was 37 years old in what would be the final ace-caliber season of his career.
Best Finish: 2nd in 1999
Mike Mussina finished sixth or higher in AL Cy Young voting a whopping nine times during his 18-year career, though his only top-three finish came during the 1999 season.
Interestingly, that was far from his best individual season. He logged his 12th-highest single-season WAR total (4.4) that year while going 18-7 with a 3.50 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and 172 strikeouts in 203.1 innings.
His 1992 campaign was his best when he posted a 2.54 ERA in 241 innings and 8.2 WAR in his first full season in the big leagues, but that garnered him just a fourth-place finish behind Dennis Eckersley, Jack McDowell and Roger Clemens.
- 1996 (3rd): 61 G, 26 HLD, 2.09 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 5.0 WAR
- 1999 (3rd): 66 G, 45/49 SV, 1.83 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 3.5 WAR
- 2004 (3rd): 74 G, 53/57 SV, 1.94 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 4.2 WAR
- 2005 (2nd): 71 G, 43/47 SV, 1.38 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, 4.0 WAR
- 2008 (5th): 64 G, 39/40 SV, 1.40 ERA, 0.67 WHIP, 4.3 WAR
Best Finish: 2nd in 2005
Mariano Rivera never won a Cy Young Award, but he finished in the top five in voting an impressive five times in his Hall of Fame career.
Let's just let those seasons do the talking:
There were another 10 seasons also worthy of consideration, and while it can sometimes be difficult to compare starting pitchers and relief pitchers, Rivera is a no-brainer choice for the No. 1 spot on this list.
