Phillies teammate Bryce Harper says Zack Wheeler ‘deserves’ the NL Cy Young, but what about Braves’ Chris Sale?

The National League Cy Young Award will only be handed out after the World Series concludes, but Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper let the world know on Tuesday night who he would vote for if he had a say in such matters. Predictably, it’s a certain guy he shares a clubhouse with.

“Yeah, I mean, he’s the Cy Young,” Harper said of teammate Zack Wheeler after the Phillies’ win over the Milwaukee Brewers that could serve as a potential playoff series preview. “It’s not even a question anymore, just the way he’s throwing, the way he’s been doing it all year. He deserves it — he deserved it three years ago or even two years ago, and they took it away from him, so he deserves it this year, no doubt about it.”

Wheeler recently had his latest spectacular outing. In seven innings, he gave up one run on four hits and one walk. He also struck out six of the 24 batters he faced. His seasonal ERA now stands at 2.56.

In addition, Wheeler enters Wednesday ranked second in the NL in innings pitched, second in ERA (among qualified pitchers), second in wins above replacement, and second in overall pitcher wins (which isn’t particularly valuable, as modern analysis has shown, but could still factor into the equation for a certain group of voters).

There’s no denying that Wheeler has had a terrific season — so, what does his candidacy for the Cy Young Award look like? Our own Matt Snyder identified Atlanta Braves left-hander Chris Sale as the favorite to win the NL’s Cy Young nearly a month ago. At the time, he wrote the following about Mr. Wheeler: “He’s the ace on the league’s best team and has helped keep the rotation afloat despite injuries and inconsistency over the last two months.”

Unfortunately for Wheeler, the pitcher ahead of him in ERA, Wins Above Replacement and Wins is… well, Sale. Wheeler has an innings lead over Sale, having thrown 14 more frames to date, but that gap is unlikely to hold when considering the difference in ERA and WAR. Here is a head-to-head comparison between the two in several notable categories:

It’s an irony that Sale is probably the man who cost Wheeler the Cy Young Award. Sale has played a similar role to Wheeler throughout his career: a great starter who never gets the hardware. This winter it looks like Sale will finish in the top five in Cy Young voting for the sixth time; comparatively, it will be Wheeler’s second time. Sale’s number is going to come up this winter; if there’s any justice in such things, Wheeler’s will eventually be, too.

As for Harper’s claim that Wheeler was “denied” the last Cy Young Award – that would be the 2021 edition, when he lost to Corbin Burnes by 10 points. Wheeler had a worse ERA than Burnes, but held a significant lead in both Wins Above Replacement and innings pitched.