Finding Betting Value in the Odds for the 2018 National League Cy Young Award

Noah Syndergaard, New York Mets

Odds: 25/1

Not a lot has gone right for the Mets this year, other than deGrom owning NL hitters. Noah Syndergaard had also been pitching great until he was sent to the disabled list last week because of a strained ligament in his right index finger. Happily for the Mets, it appears as though he'll be back in time to take on the New York Yankees in the Subway Series this weekend, so this appears to be a quick 10-day trip on the disabled list.

When he's been on the mound, Thor has been terrific, perhaps even better than his ERA would indicate. His ERA sits at 3.06, 12th-best in the league, but his FIP of 2.56 is a half-run better. And because fWAR uses FIP and not ERA in its calculations, they have Syndergaard with an fWAR of 1.9, tied with Patrick Corbin for fourth-best in the NL.

Syndergaard is still striking out a ton of guys (28.3%) and is walking very few (4.8%) -- although that walk rate is double what he was walking in 2017, granted last year's 2.4% clip was virtually impossible to repeat. Opponents are hitting .250 against him, and he's been a bit unlucky on balls in play, with a .339 BABIP this year.

Given his history and ability to dominate, it's entirely possible Thor could go on a tear in the second half and make a serious challenge to Scherzer and deGrom before all is said and done.