Hurry! All-MLB Team voting ends today, 4 CT
T.R. Sullivan
@Sullivan_RangerARLINGTON -- Left-hander Mike Minor and right-hander Lance Lynn are the Rangers' nominees for the 2019 All-MLB Team presented by Scotts.
The selection process for the 2019 All-MLB Team runs through 4 p.m. CT today, with 50% of the vote coming from fans and 50% coming from a panel of experts. Lynn and Minor are nominees in the starting pitcher category.
Lynn and Minor were the strength of the Rangers' rotation. Minor was Texas' Opening Day starter and an All-Star for the first time in his career. He made 32 starts for the Rangers and was 14-10 with a 3.59 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP over 208 1/3 innings. He finished with 200 strikeouts.
Lynn, signed to a three-year contract last winter, was 16-11 with a 3.67 ERA and a 1.22 WHIP over 208 1/3 innings. His 246 strikeouts were fourth in the American League. He threw a club-record 100-plus pitches in 31 of 33 starts. That was the most by any pitcher in the Majors.
Minor and Lynn marked the first time two Rangers pitchers struck out 200 or more hitters in one season since Nolan Ryan and Bobby Witt in 1990.
¡°There are not too many teams that can say they had two pitchers with at least 200 strikeouts,¡± manager Chris Woodward said at the end of the season. ¡°I can¡¯t say enough about what they meant to our team. Outside Houston, there wasn¡¯t a better 1-2 combination at the top of anybody¡¯s rotation. They just did an amazing job for us taking the ball every fifth day like they did.¡±
The other starting pitcher nominees include the Astros' Justin Verlander, Gerrit Cole and Zack Greinke; the Dodgers' Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu; Washington's Max Scherzer and Stephen Strasburg; the Braves' Mike Soroka; the Mets' Jacob deGrom; the Reds' Sonny Gray; Tampa Bay's Charlie Morton; the Red Sox's Eduardo Rodriguez; the Cardinals' Jack Flaherty; Cleveland's Shane Bieber and Lucas Giolito of the White Sox.
Fans can vote once every 24 hours between now and when voting ends next Tuesday. The inaugural All-MLB Team will be announced on Dec. 10 at baseball¡¯s annual Winter Meetings in San Diego.
There will be a first team and second team announced for the honor, and voters are asked only to consider performance during the regular season when casting their ballots. Each team will include one selection at each position (including designated hitter and three outfielders, regardless of specific outfield position), five starting pitchers and two relievers.