Strasburg or Scherzer?

The Cy Young finalists have been announced, and, lo and behold there are two Nationals on the list.  Not Blake Treinen and Shawn Kelley.  Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer.

Which should win? 

Either would be a good candidate, but to me Strasburg is the best pitcher on the staff, and in fact the best pitcher in the National League.   I cannot recall one bad Strasburg outing all year.  Max seemed to have a couple of clunkers.  Not many, mind you, but a couple.

Strasburg went 15-4 with a 2.52 ERA in 2017. 204 Strikeouts in 175.1 innings.  His four losses:
April 29, NYM.  5-3 loss 7 innings, 3 ER
June 7, LAD 2-1 loss  6 innings, 1 ER
July 8, Atlanta 13-0 loss 3 innings, 3 ER
August 19 San Diego 3-1 loss.  6 innings, 2 ER

In his losses, Strasburg pitched 22 innings and gave up 9 ER., a 3.68 ERA.  If you take out that one clunker against Atlanta, he pitched 19 innings and gave up 6 ER, for an ERA of 2.84.  IN HIS LOSSES. 

This is an amazingly consistent, dominant pitcher. 

Max certainly also had a deserving year, going 16-6 with a 2.51 ERA.   A few more innings,, and an almost identical record.  But lets examine Max's six losses:

April 12, St. L, 6-1 loss  6 innings, 1 ER
April 28, NYM, 7-5 loss  6 innings, 5 ER
May 20, Atlanta 5-2 loss  5 innings, 3ER
June 11, Texas 5-1 loss 7.1 innings, 2 ER
June 21, Miami, 2-1 loss 8 innings, 2 ER
Sep. 13, Atlanta 8-2 loss 6 innings, 7 ER

In his losses, Max pitched 38.1 and gave up 20 runs, for an ERA of 4.69.

Admittedly, this is splitting hairs and there is a strong argument for Max because he pitched approximately 20 more innings than Stras.  And, admittedly, I'm a big Strasburg guy, he is a 'true Nat' whilst Max seems more like the hired gun.   I prefer the 'just go pitch' style of Strasburg to the theatrics of Max.  So I may not be unbiased, but I'd give the Cy Young to Stephen Strasburg. 

By a nose.