AL Cy Young Odds & Predictions 2023: Gerrit Cole, Jacob deGrom are Co-Favorites

Many familiar names are atop the odds boards to win the American League Cy Young award this Major League Baseball season, but some of those front-runners will be performing in unfamiliar territory in 2023.

The New York Yankees’ Gerrit Cole (+700 odds at FanDuel, Westgate) is the co-favorite to win the award, along with Jacob deGrom  (+700 Westgate), who earned the NL Cy Young in 2018 and 2019. While Cole returns to the Bronx as the team ace, deGrom ended his nine-year stay in New York with the Mets by signing a blockbuster deal with the rebuilding Texas Rangers in the offseason.

Los Angeles Angels RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani, who hasn’t won a Cy Young but was the AL MVP in 2021, is price at +1200 odds at PointsBet in potentially his last season with the Angels.

Lefty Carlos Rodon, who was sixth in Cy Young voting in the NL last year with the San Francisco Giants and fifth a year earlier in AL voting with the Chicago White Sox, was on the move again this offseason and now is with the Yankees. He’s available at +1400 (FanDuel), but the oft-injured hurler will be opening the season on the injured list with a left forearm strain.

A couple of other players with short odds on the boards are RHP Dylan Cease of the White Sox (+1000 Westgate) and RHP Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays (+1200 FanDuel, Westgate).

Check out our AL Cy Young odds and predictions for 2023.

Odds to Win 2023 AL Cy Young Award

Here are the odds to win the 2023 AL Cy Young Award at FanDuel, BetMGM, and PointsBet.

Betting Picks To Win 2023 AL Cy Young

In addition to the favorites mentioned above, here are a few AL Cy Young candidates who could pay off at nice prices.

Framber Valdez, LHP, Houston Astros (+2000 BetMGM, FanDuel)

Now that 2022 AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander has left for the Mets, Framber Valdez is the ace of a staff and is coming off two dominating World Series victories over the Philadelphia Phillies.

He was fifth in the award voting last season after going 17-6 in the regular season with an extremely high ground-ball rate, according to advanced stats sites. And not once did a left-handed hitter go deep on him in the 2022 regular season.

As a lefty, he shouldn’t be affected as much as right-handers by the new infield shift restrictions that will benefit left-handed pull hitters. Also, lefty pitchers usually have an advantage with regard to holding runners on base, which is a particularly important edge now that pick-off throws will be limited.

Shane McClanahan, LHP, Tampa Bay Rays (+1600 FanDuel)

Another lefty, Shane McClanahan finished sixth in the voting last year and might have ended up much higher had he not suffered shoulder/neck injuries that sidelined him two weeks in early September. When he returned, he wasn’t quite the same, losing his final three games of the season to finish 12-8, yielding 11 earned runs in his final 14 innings.

Yet, he still had the league’s third-best WHIP (0.93) and led the Rays in wins, ERA, and strikeouts in 29 outings.

In addition, this has to work out better for McClanahan: There were 62 pitchers last year who made 28 or more starts. McClanahan’s run support per game of 3.41 was the lowest. That could be solved in a big way if the Rays’ big hitters (that means you, Wander Franco) stay healthy for a whole season.

Dylan Cease, RHP, Chicago White Sox (+1000 Westgate)

Cease, the runner-up to Verlander for the AL honor last season, had the third-best ERA in the majors last year at 2.20 in going 14-8 with an average of 97 mph on his pitches.

He also cut back on homers allowed, giving up only 16 in 184 innings — that’s four fewer than he had in 2021 while working 19 more frames.

If he has a drawback, it’s his walk rate of 3.8 per nine innings. He issued a league-high 78 passes last season. But playing with a team that was fifth in hitting last season should help his win column.

Longshots To Win 2023 AL Cy Young Award

It would not be wise to disregard long shots when digging for the next Cy Young winner, for there have been some nice payouts in recent years.

For instance, 2022 NL winner Sandy Alcantara of the Miami Marlins had odds of +5000 at this stage last year. And a year earlier, 2021 AL winner Robbie Ray, then with Toronto, opened at +8000 and then saw his odds balloon to +30000 in mid-April after a slow start.

In 2017, Tampa Bay’s Blake Snell won the AL award at +10000. So, take at least a glance at all the names listed on the betting sites.

Here are three intriguing choices:

Chris Bassitt, RHP, Toronto Blue Jays (+20000 FanDuel)

Only two seasons ago, Chris Bassitt (with a team-best 3.15 ERA) anchored the Oakland staff when the A’s were perennial playoff contenders. And last year, he was the most reliable pitcher on the Mets’ staff, leading the squad with wins, ERA, and innings pitched.

Now, he’s joining a team that was the run-away leader in the MLB in batting average last season (.264), which should provide him with a comfort zone and allows him to stick around in games longer.

Jump on this guy early to get these whopping odds. The Westgate opened at +20000 but has since cut that number to +8000.

Brady Singer, RHP, Kansas City Royals (+6600 BetMGM)

No pitcher has seen his odds shorten as much as Brady Singer, the Royals’ new ace. The Westgate opened with Singer at +20000 and dropped that number to +2000.

Singer, 26 years old, improved dramatically last season over his first two years in 2020 and 2021, with his ERA dropping from 4.91 to 3.23 and his WHIP going from 1.55 to 1.14. He is coming off a 10-5 season for a KC team that finished 32 games under .500.

All this shouldn’t come as a surprise, for he was the 18th overall draft pick by the Royals five years ago.

Mike Clevinger, RHP, Chicago White Sox (+20000 Westgate)

Mike Clevinger opened at +10000 at the Westgate, and his odds promptly soared after news of domestic violence allegations were made against him. But after the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball investigated, it announced last week it will not impose any discipline on him.

“Whew!” Clevinger no doubt said.

On the mound, the last vision many have of Clevinger is him being removed from his Game 4 NLDS start for San Diego in Philadelphia after giving up three earned runs without retiring a batter. At these odds, it’s worth hoping Clevinger can regain his form from 2019 when he went 13-4 with a 2.71 ERA with the Cleveland Guardians.

Read more: 2023 AL MVP odds | 2023 NL MVP odds | 2023 World Series odds

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