Nolan Ryan is for me. He leads the world in strike outs and no-hitters. And with over 300 wins it's just amazing he didn't win it.
I believe Cy Young ends all discussions as to who is the best pitcher never to win the Cy Young Award. By definition, he IS the standard by which all other pitchers are measured, and he never won the namesake award.
The Cy Young award is obviously an annual award and it looks like Ryan rarely had the dominant stats to be in contention in an individual season. The closest he came was in 1973 when he finished second to Jim Palmer:
http://bbref.com/pi/shareit/VTOH6
Looking at some of the key numbers for his career, Ryan never lead the league in wins, but he did lead once in losses. He lead the league in ERA twice, but he only had 11 and 8 wins in those two seasons.
Sandy Koufax without question.
Mariano Rivera and Curt Schilling
Did Jack Morris ever win it ?
IF Not, he's my choice.
I would go with the 1968 Bob Gibson where he won the Cy Young AND the AL MVP award and the 1963 Sandy Koufax that ALSO won both awards on the NL side.
My reply once again would be Cy Young (aka Mr. NIST, Mr. ISO, Mr De Facto, Mr. De Jure). Cy Young NEVER won a Cy Young Award and there is no better pitcher according to the standard he established. All others are a distant second...![]()
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