If there was no doubt about the winner of the 2022 Cy Young award, things were considerably murkier thereafter. Seven different players received at least one second-place vote, six got a third-place vote, and the fourth-place ballots listed no fewer than nine pitchers. No other pitcher bar Alcantara was mentioned on more than 23 of the 30 ballots. Zac Gallen finished fourth, with three voters listing him in second place, including Jayson Stark of The Athletic, and was named between second and fifth on twenty ballots.
Fifth seems about right. Going by bWAR, Gallen ranked equal sixth, but the difference between fourth and seventh was only 0.