Bossier’s Seth Lugo Aims to Continue Making Cy Young Case

UPDATE: Unfortunately, Seth had one of his worst outings of the year on Tuesday night. He gave up 5 runs over 6 innings - including two home runs to Cleveland batters. That's the bad news.

The good news - he's still leading the AL in wins and innings. And even with the rough outing, his ERA is still an impressive 2.13 (for non-baseball fans, any time an ERA is under 3, that's pretty darn good).

Lugo's rough start came on a night where the Royals as a whole weren't very good. Sloppy play in the field, Runners left on base. Just not a good night at the yard.

So far this season, games like last night have been the exception and not the rule. I fully expect to see a bounce back game when he's back on the bump.

Original Story:

Just a few years ago, Seth Lugo was a solid piece in the New York Mets bullpen. And a lot of people thought that's where he would stay - just a good bullpen arm. But, he bet on himself and wanted to be a starter. Fast forward to today, and the Former Parkway Panther and Centenary College grad is currently the most dominating pitcher in Major League Baseball. He's come a LONG way in a short amount of time. The Shreveport-Bossier native has been nasty so far this season and is building a strong case to be the AL Cy Young winner.

When Is Seth Lugo's Next Start?

Lugo is leading the American League in Wins (9), ERA (1.72) and innings pitched (78.1) so far this season. He was just named 'Pitcher of the Month' for the Royals for May. And he looks to continue building his dominating performance tonight when he takes on the Cleveland Guardians.

He and the upstart Royals are scheduled to take on Tristan McKenzie and the Cleveland Guardians tonight in Cleveland. This is an important match up between two of the top teams in the AL Central.

First pitch is at 5:40 PM. Unfortunately, unless you have MLB.TV or MLB Game pass, you can't listen to or stream the game in Louisiana. However, our friends in Arkansas can stream the radio broadcast on 610 Sports. If you're wondering 'why do they get the games and we don't?', the short answer: One of the their farm teams, Double A affiliate Arkansas Naturals, is located in the state so they're considered part of the greater Royals network.

What Has Made Seth Lugo's Season So Special So Far?

The guy has just been absolutely dominant on the mound. And when the opposing hitters make contact, it's generally weak and gobbled up by a tremendous defense. Plus, the Royals are giving him some really good run support. So, all that combined, makes for one heck of a season.

Plus, going off of sheer numbers for this point in the season, Seth is up their with elite company. His numbers are comparable to previous Cy Young winners like Gerrit Cole and Greg Maddux, just to name a few. I could do a deep dive into the numbers here, but for the sake of not being an absolute stat nerd, I'm going to keep it simple - guy has pitched great and his breaking ball has been virtually untouchable.

As you can see above, so far this year going off the numbers, Seth's season is comparable to Maddux in 95. That year, Maddux went 19-2 with a 1.63 ERA and 181 strikeouts. Is Seth going to match that pace? Probably not. But, if he's even remotely in the neighborhood....that's still a great season and one that could end up being Cy Young worthy.

At this point in the season, he's leading the AL in Wins and ERA. The only stat he's behind on is strikeouts (he's currently 23 behind teammate Cole Ragans), BUT I'd rather have a guy that wins and keeps the opponent from scoring. Strikeouts may be sexy, but they don't always lead to wins.