Yes, I was one of the 13 writers who voted Gerrit Cole first for the American League Cy Young award. No, it wasn’t the conspiracy theory you might be thinking.
Considering what happened between Justin Verlander and another Tigers beat writer in Houston back in August, I knew my vote had the risk of being a hot-button topic, even though I wasn’t in Houston when that happened. The tightening contest between Verlander and Cole only heightened that sense. I’ve always used a spreadsheet of where players finished in the top 10 of what I consider to be key statistical categories to help determine my awards votes.