After Britton snub, should BBWAA institute an award for relievers?

The Orioles' Zach Britton, who set a big-league record with 43 consecutive appearances without allowing an earned run, isn't going to win the American League Cy Young Award this season.

And it might be the biggest snub in the history of the voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Maybe the snub will kick-start the BBWAA into adding a postseason award for relief pitchers, but the idea hasn't caught on with the 500-plus members of the group. That could be discussed at the BBWAA gathering next month at the Winter Meetings.

As bullpens continue to dominate games and get paid a bigger chunk of teams' payrolls, it would be a good move for the BBWAA.

The last time the postseason awards were expanded was in 1967, when the BBWAA decided to give two Cy Young Awards, one in each league.

Previously, the Dodgers' Sandy Koufax had won three of the four Cy Youngs when there was only one winner for both leagues. The Angels' Dean Chance won the other.

The three finalists for the AL award are all starters: Corey Kluber of Cleveland, Rick Porcello of Boston and Justin Verlander of Detroit.

Kluber won 18 games with a 3.14 ERA, while Porcello win 22 games at 3.15 and Verlander 16 with a 3.04 ERA.

Each threw at least 215 innings with 32 starts. Britton pitched 67 innings in 69 games and is a big reason the Orioles were in the postseason this year.

But if a closer with Britton's statistics doesn't win the award this year, when does a closer win?

The lefty had a 0.54 ERA, a 0.84 WHIP and was 47-for-47 in save opportunities. He walked less than one batter per nine innings.

The workload comparison between a starter and reliever is a no-win situation for a BBWAA voter.

(For the record, there are two voters selected from each American League city for each of the organization's four awards. Ballots have to be cast before the final day of the regular season.)

It seems ridiculous that the best closer in the history of baseball, Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees, never won a Cy Young Award.

Rivera had three third-place finishes and a second-place finish, losing in 2005 to the Angels' Bartolo Colon. That year, Rivera had a 1.38 ERA and 43 saves. Colon was 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA.

Britton would have been the 10th reliever to win a Cy Young.

The last AL closer to win the award was Oakland's Dennis Eckersley in 1992. The last NL winner was the Los Angeles Dodgers' Eric Gagne in 2003.

Eckersley, now a Hall of Famer, saved 51 of 54 games with a 1.91 ERA for the AL West-winning Athletics in 1992. He pitched 80 innings.

The White Sox's Jack McDowell (20-10, 3.18 ERA) finished second to Eckersley, followed by Boston's Roger Clemens (18-11, 2.41 ERA) and the Orioles' Mike Mussina (18-5, 2.54 ERA).

Eckersley also beat Minnesota's Kirby Puckett, Toronto's Joe Carter and A's teammate Mark McGwire for the AL MVP that season.

When Gagne won the NL Cy, he beat San Francisco's Jason Schmidt (17 wins, 2.34 ERA) and the Chicago Cubs' Mark Prior (18 wins, 2.43 ERA).

In 1987, Philadelphia Phillies closer Steve Bedrosian was the NL Cy Young Award winner in a season when the team finished fourth. He had a 2.83 ERA and 40 saves, and beat the Cubs' Rick Sutcliffe, who finished second with 18 wins and a 3.68 ERA.

It's interesting to note how the role of closer has changed.

The first reliever to win a Cy Young was iron man Mike Marshall for the 1974 Dodgers. That year, he pitched in 106 games and threw 208 1/3 innings while going 15-12.

Consider that the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw has won the award with 198 2/3 innings pitched in a season.

Obviously, the role of closer has evolved.

Three years later, the New York Yankees' Sparky Lyle became the first AL Cy winner when he went 13-5 with a 2.17 ERA and 137 innings. Those are good enough numbers for a starter to be considered for the award.