In 2005, Bartolo Colón finished 21-8 with a 3.48 ERA and 222.2 innings pitched, claimed the American League Cy Young Award, and became the first Dominican-born pitcher to win the honor — doing it with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The BBWAA’s decision that fall still sparks arguments today: Johan Santana had a lower ERA, more strikeouts, and nearly double the WAR. But Colón had 21 wins — the only 20-win season in the AL that year. Here’s what both sides of the ledger actually look like.
The Numbers That Won the Trophy
Colón made 33 starts, led the American League in wins, and was the only pitcher to appear on every single ballot. The BBWAA gave him 118 points and 17 of the 28 first-place votes.
He got better as the season went on. Over his final 12 starts he went 9-2 with a 3.04 ERA. August alone was nearly untouchable: 5-0, 1.72 ERA, as the Angels closed out the AL West with a 95-67 record.
His ERA+ of 122 means he was 22% better than the league-average pitcher that year, adjusted for ballpark. His WHIP came in at 1.159. It was also the first 20-win season by an Angels starter since Nolan Ryan went 22-16 in 1974, and the franchise’s first Cy Young since Dean Chance in 1964.
The Case for Santana: What the Voters Looked Past
Johan Santana finished third in the voting — and that’s the number that keeps the conversation alive.
The Venezuelan lefty closed 2005 at 16-7, 2.87 ERA, 238 strikeouts, and a WHIP of 0.917. His WAR, per Baseball-Reference, was 7.8 — nearly double Colón’s approximately 4.0.
- Santana’s ERA was 0.61 lower than Colón’s
- Santana struck out 81 more batters
- Santana’s WAR was roughly twice as high
By every metric that measures actual on-field dominance, Santana was the most valuable pitcher in the league that year — and it wasn’t particularly close.
The problem was context. In 2005, BBWAA voters still treated wins as the defining number for an ace. Colón had 21; Santana had 16. In a baseball culture where 20 wins was still the imaginary line separating elite starters from everyone else, a five-win gap outweighed a lower ERA, 81 extra strikeouts, and a superior WAR. Colón absolutely deserved to be in the conversation. The debate is whether he should have won it.
What Came After That Season
Colón suffered a partial rotator cuff tear during the postseason against the Yankees, which slowed him for two seasons. But the kid from Altamira, Dominican Republic, proved more durable than anyone expected. He resurfaced in Oakland (2012–2013), thrived with the Mets through 2016, and at age 42 hit the first home run of his career — arguably the most celebrated home run any pitcher has ever hit. His final big-league appearance came on September 22, 2018, with Texas.
When it was all over, Colón retired with 247 wins, 2,535 strikeouts, and a career WAR of 46.3. He is the winningest pitcher born in Latin America in MLB history.
The 2005 Cy Young was the peak of all of it. And it remains exactly the kind of award that reminds you baseball sometimes rewards winning more than dominating. Whether that was the right call depends on who you ask.
