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🏆 Good morning to everyone but especially …
USATSI
GERRIT COLE AND BLAKE SNELL
For all the strikeouts, the dominance, the headlines and the accolades, Gerrit Cole had never won a Cy Young award … until now. The Yankees righty took home pitching’s most coveted award in the AL, and he did it in unanimous fashion.
- Cole is the sixth Yankees player — but first since Roger Clemens in 2001 — to win the award. Cole went 15-4 with a 2.63 ERA this season. His 0.98 WHIP led MLB.
- Cole joins Ron Guidry (1978) as the Yankees’ unanimous Cy Young winners.
- Cole is also the oldest player in MLB history to win his first Cy Young unanimously.
- Cole had finished top-10 in Cy Young voting six times — including runner-up twice — previously.
Over in the NL, Blake Snell joined some exclusive company with his own Cy Young award. Also a Cy Young winner in 2018 with the Rays, Snell is just the seventh player to win the award in both leagues.
MVP awards will be announced tonight.
👍 Honorable mentions
😖 And not such a good morning for …
Getty Images
DESHAUN WATSON AND THE CLEVELAND BROWNS
The Browns have a historically good defense and are coming off a game in which their $230-million quarterback finally delivered. Times were good in Cleveland. And then times stopped being good. Deshaun Watson will miss the rest of the season due to a shoulder fracture that requires surgery.
- The news came just three days after Watson played a magnificent second half to rally his team to a 33-31 victory over the Ravens, improving the Browns to 6-3.
- Watson suffered the injury in the second quarter, making his second half all the more remarkable: 14 of 14 passing for 134 yards and one touchdown as well as 18 yards rushing. By expected points added per dropback, it was his best half of the season, and that it came against the Ravens’ outstanding defense made it all the better.
- Watson’s campaign ends after just six games. Across two seasons in Cleveland — due to suspension and injury — he will have played in 12 of a potential 34 games.
The Browns will move forward with rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson as their starter. Thompson-Robinson, who you can get to know here, has one career start: He threw three interceptions and took four sacks in a 28-3 loss to Baltimore. The Browns have also used P.J. Walker at quarterback, though he ranks last in completion percentage, touchdown-to-interception ratio and passer rating among 38 quarterbacks with at least 75 pass attempts.
This makes me think of Tom Moore, who, when asked why he didn’t give more reps to Peyton Manning‘s backups in Indianapolis, responded,”Fellas, if ’18’ goes down, we’re f—ed. And we don’t practice f—ed.” The Browns have an elite defense that might help them survive. But Thompson-Robinson and Walker don’t exactly inspire confidence, and neither do potential outside options, especially after the trade deadline has passed, notes John Breech.
Watson’s arrival was supposed to halt Cleveland’s decades-long revolving door at quarterback. So far, though, he has failed to do so, and a Browns season with real promise just days ago has lost all momentum.
👎 Not so honorable mentions
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