Chicago Cubs: Comparing every Cubs Cy Young season

(Photo by Photo File/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
(Photo by Photo File/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
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Chicago Cubs
Greg Maddux (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Comparing the Cy Young winners from the Chicago Cubs–every one of them

Even though the Cy Young award has only been in place since 1956, looking at which pitchers won them can help determine who had the greatest seasons by a pitcher in franchise history.

Since 1956, five Chicago Cubs pitchers have been honored with the prestigious National League Cy Young Award. Four of these five were starters and three of them are Hall of Famers. There have been no repeats by one pitcher. It took over a decade since the inception of the award for a Cubs pitcher to win one.

Measuring the effectiveness of a pitcher has changed over the past 64 years. Starters often pitched way more innings than they do now, and the win-loss record was seen as arguably the most essential starting pitcher stat for a long time. Now, even ERA has taken a seat behind stats like FIP, xFIP, WHIP, etc.

Regardless of how pitchers were measured 40 years ago or four years ago, we can look at the Cy Young-winning seasons of Chicago Cubs pitchers and use stats across the board to evaluate just how good they were that year. One thing is sure, they all had great seasons, but some stand much higher above others.

Here is a look at the five Cy Young seasons by five different Cubs pitchers.

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