Happy Baseball Friday: Cy Young

by Mike Izzo

American League

The AL Cy Young race is much more interesting in my opinion than the NL’s, which receives far more attention. This is because the voters will be making a statement when they choose the winner.

Just how important are wins? Over the past two weeks the race has closed to two players after C.C. Sabathia made it to 20 wins with an ERA of just over 3, essentially edging out David Price from consideration. Just how much does the league’s only 20-win pitcher mean though? It was enough to give Bartolo Colon (21 wins) the award over Johan Santana (first in strikeouts) and Kevin Millwood (first in ERA) in 2005, but it wasn’t enough to give it to Josh Beckett when he had a 20-win season in 2007.

(Sabathia has a 20-6 record on the season.)

That year the award went to Sabathia.

This year Sabathia will be contending with Felix Hernandez, who - through no fault of his own - happens to pitch for the worst team in the AL (see: Zack Greinke, 2009 Cy Young for the Kansas City Royals) and subsequently has only earned 12 wins (and 12 losses!) for his impressive efforts. King Felix is leading the league in strikeouts and ERA, arguably two of the more difficult categories in the pitching Triple Crown. Felix also leads the league with 241.2 innings pitched.

(Hernandez leads the ML with 227 k's.)

For me, the decision is easy. It has to be King Felix, but one can’t overlook Sabathia, the ace of arguably the most popular team in professional sports. Especially since Sabathia has managed to keep an incredibly shaky pitching staff in first place. Stranger things have happened. I’m looking at you Bartolo Colon.

Mike Izzo's AL Cy Young Picks:

1. Felix Hernandez

2. CC Sabathia

3. David Price

4. Justin Verlander

5. Jon Lester/Clay Buchholz

(Justin Verlander has a WHIP (walks + hits / innings pitched) of 1.19.)