1946 Cy Young Awards

1946 American League - Bob Feller, Cleveland Indians

26-15, 2.18 ERA, 348 K

This was a tough call; 1945 winner Hal Newhouser had another great season, but Bob Feller pitched just as well in his first full season after serving in World War II.  Newhouser actually probably pitched better, but Feller pitched almost as well, in far more innings pitched.  They both won the same number of games to lead the league, and Newhouser led the league in ERA at 1.94.  Feller finished third in ERA, and fifth in WHIP (1.158), while Newhouser led in both of those categories.  Normally, I would've chosen Newhouser in such a situation, but what gave Feller the edge was 371.1 innings pitched, to lead the league over Newhouser's second place 292.2.  Feller pitched more complete games (36) than Newhouser started (34), and his 10 shutouts easily led the league over Newhouser's six.  In terms of WAR, they were both extraordinarily high, with Feller at 9.4 and Newhouser at 9.1.  Clearly, they both had spectacular pitching seasons, but I have to give the nod to Feller; the additional eight starts and nearly 80 innings more that he pitched are more valuable, in my opinion, than the slightly lower ERA and WHIP that Newhouser had.  One last statistic worth mentioning was Feller's unbelievable 348 strikeouts.  Although I don't like to put too much faith in strikeout numbers, he finished one shy of Rube Waddell's modern single-season records, and today it remains the sixth most strikeouts in post-1900 baseball history The MVP voters disagreed with me, however, with Newhouser finishing as the runner-up to Ted Williams, and Feller in sixth place.

1946 National League - Howie Pollet, St. Louis Cardinals

21-10, 2.10 ERA, 107 K

Howie Pollet didn't have a particularly spectacular MLB career; he played 14 seasons of occasionally above-average baseball as both a starter and reliever, but in 1946 he was the ace of the World Series winning Cardinals, and the best pitcher in the league.  He led in both ERA and innings pitched (266.0), which is a combination that I like to see, and he also led in wins and ERA+ (165).  Perhaps most impressive, however, was the fact that he had not thrown a pitch in professional baseball in two and a half seasons before 1946 due to service in World War II.  After 1946, he would continue as a decent pitcher for a variety of teams, but he never quite matched his success from this season.