PHOENIX — Triston McKenzie and Logan Gilbert both dress a few lockers down from a surprise American League Cy Young Award winner. In the Cleveland Guardians’ clubhouse in Goodyear, Ariz., it is Shane Bieber, who won in 2020; in the Seattle Mariners’, in Peoria, it is Robbie Ray, who won for Toronto the next season. Neither had finished in the top three in voting before they won. Bieber would not be surprised if the next winner were McKenzie, his Cleveland teammate. “He’s always had a great aura about him,” Bieber said. “He knows how good he can be.” In the search for the A.L.’s next pitching superstar — in the mold of Bieber, Ray and a National Leaguer, Sandy Alcantara, the unanimous Cy Young Award winner for the Miami Marlins last season — McKenzie and Gilbert stand out. Both match the indicators of youthful promise, durability, performance and relative anonymity that made Alcantara a prime candidate for a breakout. They are only 25 years old and withstood the demands of at … [Read more...] about Dr. Sticks and the Return of the Splitter