Boston Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray isn't just having arguably the best season of his MLB career at 36 years old; he's looking like a legitimate Cy Young candidate.
The Tennessee native just dominated the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday (3 hits, 2 walks, 0 runs, 8 strikeouts in 6 innings), and that's only one example of how fantastic he has been all season long.
Through 21 starts, Gray is leading all of baseball with 14 wins, and of all AL starters, he is fifth in ERA (2.78). He has also been Boston's best pitcher this season (which is saying a lot, given how elite its staff has been, even throughout its low points), and he was very obviously robbed of an All-Star nod.
There is a little less than two months of baseball left, but at this rate, Gray is proving that he deserves to be in Cy Young conversations. And considering that Boston initially acquired him from the St. Louis Cardinals just to add depth to its rotation, nobody could have expected this type of season from him.
Sonny Gray will continue to be crucial to Boston's success this year
Seemingly out of nowhere, the Red Sox are now firmly in the playoff picture and look like real World Series contenders. With a 62-52 record, they are just one game behind the New York Yankees for the second spot in the AL East (they are also 5.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays) and the first AL Wild Card spot (they are six games ahead of the Texas Rangers, who currently hold the third Wild Card spot).
Boston has been on fire since late June, and while a lot of that is because of its offense waking up (since the All-Star Break: T-1st in MLB with 31 home runs, T-4th with 107 runs, 8th with a .261 BA, and 4th with a .800 OPS), its pitching staff has remained mostly dominant all season (for some context, its 3.49 ERA is the third-best in the majors across the entire season).
And a lot of that has to do with Gray, who stepped up in a major way after Garrett Crochet's shoulder injury, which has kept him out of action for more than three months and counting.
As the Red Sox look to further establish themselves as real title contenders this season, they are going to bank on the success of everybody who has helped them reach this point. And that especially includes Gray, who is suddenly looking like their ace.
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