Sardine City's Sanchez wins 20th

Cristopher Sanchez won his 20th game, putting him squarely into the mix for the Ben McDonald Award, as the league leader in wins, among other categories, and likely the only one with 20 wins.

2025 Ben McDonald Award contenders

It might be a runaway winner for the Ben McDonald Award as one candidate checks plenty of boxes for the accolade. But who knows, perhaps a reliever will finally surprise?

2023 Ben McDonald Award winner: Justin Verlander

In the long and storied history of the franchise, Marietta had never had a player win the Kevin Mitchell Award or Ben McDonald Award, despite three titles on its shelves. In its 28th and final season in the DMBL, that changes.

2023 Ben McDonald Award candidates

There was no 20-game winner during the 2023 season but there are three previous Ben McDonald Award winners among this year's contenders, including the reigning award winner.

2022 McDonald Award winner: Jacob deGrom

Jacob deGrom collected Livingston's second Ben McDonald Award in franchise history, easily outdistancing fellow 21-game winner Walker Buehler of El Paso and the rest of the field.

2022 Ben McDonald Award contenders

As Hot Stove League heats up, it's time for DMBL owners to vote on the 2022 player awards. Let's start with a look at contenders for the Ben McDonald Award, recognizing the league's top pitcher.

2021 McDonald Award contenders

This year's race for the Ben McDonald Award seems to have everything for everyone. If you like strikeouts, you'll love this year's field. If you like workhorse starters that put up W's and log innings, there's that too. Even relievers had extraordinary seasons.

2020 Ben McDonald Award winner: Lance Lynn

Before this past season, Lance Lynn had registered double-digit losses in five of his six DMBL seasons, including a brutal 15-43 record over three years. The four-time draftee broke out in 2020 after latching on with Sardine City, going 24-6 to help the Straphangers to a 104-win campaign and the commissioner's cup.

2020 McDonald Award candidates

The 2020 Ben McDonald Award could become more of a coronation than last year's close race after a season that saw the second-highest win total by a starting pitcher in DMBL history. 

2019 Ben McDonald Award winner

Ballots were all over the place in the wide open race for the Ben McDonald Award, with a clear top 3 that separated from the field in the final result.

2019 Ben McDonald candidates

There was no 20-game winner in 2019. There was no historic season by a relief pitcher. It seems like the race for the Ben McDonald Award is much more wide open than in years past.

2018 Ben McDonald Award winner

Hopatcong's Stephen Strasburg, the league's only 20-game winner and the ERA champion in 2018, was a nearly unanimous selection as the Ben McDonald Award.

Strasburg approaches win percentage mark

At one point this season, Stephen Strasburg was 2-0 and fell to 2-1 after his fifth start, when he was ripped for 7 runs in 6+ innings by El Paso way back in April. He's now 18-1.

2017 McDonald Award winner: Johnny Cueto

Vancouver's Johnny Cueto easily held off three left-handers and was a near-unanimous selection for the 2017 Ben McDonald Award after a league-leading 22-5 mark.

2017 McDonald Award candidates

There was only one 20-game winner in the DMBL this season but wins aren't a measure of a pitcher like they once were, as SABRmetrics and other numbers have taken a more prominent place in evaluating a pitcher's season.

2016 McDonald Award winner: Jake Arrieta

As they did virtually all season, Tucson's duo of Jake Arrieta and Zach Greinke proved to be a formidable 1-2 punch, even in the final balloting for the Ben McDonald Pitching Excellence Award.

Buehrle wins his 100th game

It took 14 starts but Mark Buehrle has his first win of the season -- and the 100th of his career. The left-hander scattered four hits and a run over seven innings while striking out four in a 4-1 home triumph against Philly last night.

The 100 wins puts him squarely in 20th place in all-time victories, breaking a tie with Jake Peavy, who's spent most of this season working on his mechanics in the Hopatcong minor league system.

The third overall pick of the 2002 draft, Buehrle went on to win the McDonald Award that year for the Columbia Crusaders, going 18-9 with a 2.32 ERA and wicked awesome 0.98 WHIP-- yet somehow losing out on the Listach Award for Rookie of the Year to Joel Pineiro (who did win 21 games). He's been among the steadiest starting pitchers in the DMBL over past decade despite being with his seventh franchise in the St. Louis Farrakhans. Through his first five seasons, Buehrle pitched no fewer than 220 innings in all but one of them, and routinely recorded two dozen or more decisions a year.

Buehrle also is closing in on the top 20 in innings pitched, trailing Barry Zito and Bartolo Colon. He's third among active pitchers in complete games with 31 (behind Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt), which ties him for 15th all-time with Mike Morgan. He's also within the top 30 in career starts, with 259.

Buehrle is just 1-5 this season with a team-high 6.37 ERA. The losses have added up, putting him just two away from 100 for his career (which puts him 18th in league history).

Vancouver clinches, Carolina one step away

Vancouver made it official with a 13-8 victory over Sardine City, becoming the final team to clinch a playoff spot. David Ortiz was 3-4 with 5 RBIs and Chase Utley was 2-3 with 4 runs in the contest. Vancouver jumped out early against starter Ubaldo Jimenez, chasing the righthander out of the game with one out in the 2nd after giving up 8 runs. The defending champions will take on Marietta in the first round no matter how everything else shakes out.

Meanwhile, Carolina clinched at least a tie for the division lead with a 9-7 victory over Newark. Dustin Pedroia was 3-4 with 4 RBIs and Xavier Nady was also 3-4 as the Mudcats dealt a big blow to Chien-Ming Wang's Ben McDonald Award hopes. Wang had pitched himself into the driver's seat before this game. Nevertheless, Wang still leads the league in wins (21) and is 3rd in ERA (3.32), so he still has a good shot at the prize. With another Carolina win or a Hillsborough loss, the Mudcats will clinch their first ever Morris Division title.

It'll be tough for the Hitmen to win both of their remaining games, considering they'll be taking on Las Vegas. If the Hitmen don't miraculously win the division, they'll be playing Vegas in the first round. Yesterday, the Hitmen lost 5-1 to Tim Lincecum and the Rats to put them 2 games out of first place. Lincecum, Wang's toughest competition for the McDonald, improved to 19-3 with 6.2 innings of 2-hit, shutout ball. Lincecum struck out 9, giving him a total of 246, top in the league. Lincecum is also second in ERA with 3.15, behind only Carolina's Roy Halladay (2.72).