Heading Down The Homestretch: The Cy Young Race

We are a little over a month away from the end of the 2010 MLB season and many questions have yet to be answered.  What will the final standings look like? Who will make the playoffs? Who will win the MVP and Cy Young awards?  I am here to give you my top projections for the Cy Young Award in the National League and American League, and next week I will give my predictions for the MVP for both leagues.

            I feel that this year’s crop of pitching doesn’t have the numbers to represent how good they have been.  I also believe that the National league this year has had much more consistent pitching and the quality of the starts has been greater throughout the National League than the American League.  So that is where we will start, the National League. 

            It wasn’t hard to find my three contenders for the National League Cy Young Award.  Their names have been painted across headlines across the United States and Canada all year.  My contenders at this point are Adam Wainwright, Ubaldo Jimenez, and Roy Halladay.

            Adam Wainwright has 17 wins for the Cardinals this year and has been a stud as the team’s #2 pitcher to Chris Carpenter (Carpenter could also be snuck into this conversation).  Wainwright has five complete games, two of which were shutouts, and 2.06 earned run average.  In his 183 innings of work, he has 165 strikeouts and opponents are hitting only .211 against him.  That is why he is my favorite at this point for the NL Cy Young Award.

            Ubaldo Jimenez of the Colorado Rockies isn’t too far behind though.  Jimenez also has 17 wins but opponents are only hitting .205 off of him.  His strikeout and ERA aren’t as good as Wainwright’s (156 and 2.66 accordingly) but he started the season off unbelievably.  He has come down to earth in the past month or so but there is still a lot of time to regain his composure and steal the Cy Young.

            The last competitor I decided deserved to be thrown in the mix was Roy Halladay from the Philadelphia Phillies.  He was won 16 games already and pitched over 200 innings.  Halladay has eight complete games and three shutouts, including a perfect game on May 29.  He leads the league in strikeouts with 180 and his ERA is 2.16 with only 25 walks.  “Doc” Halladay may not have all of the number the others do, but if the Phillies can give him the run support he has had of late, he could easily win 20 games and make a real run at the NL Cy Young.

            The American League’s selections for the Cy Young award weren’t as easy to select as the National League.  The American League doesn’t have the numbers that the National league has and I believe that any of the National League pitchers mentioned in the above paragraphs would’ve won the Cy Young if they were in the American league.

            The three selections I came up with for contention were Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, and David Price.  There is no clear favorite and it will most certainly be decided down the final stretch of the season.

            Cliff Lee was traded away from Seattle to the Texas Rangers and has won a combined 10 games.  That stat isn’t that impressive, but the rest of his line shows you just how good he has been and how bad the run support is he received.  In 174.2 innings pitched, he has 151 strikeouts and just 11 walks all year.  Lee’s ERA may be above three (3.09) but opponent are hitting only .238 against him.  He is also a workhorse, totaling seven complete games.

            Felix Hernandez is my personal favorite for the award.  I believe he is the most underrated pitcher in the game of baseball.  Like Lee, Hernandez doesn’t have a ton of wins (9) but his other stats show how dominant he can be.  He has pitched 197 innings so far and has pitched 5 complete games.  Opponents are hitting only .228 against him and his ERA is at 2.51.  Seattle has given him no run support and “King” Felix has still managed to keep his head up and his stat line down.

            The popular favorite has to be David Price.  Price and the Tampa Bay Rays are making a real push for the AL East and they need him to be stellar if they want to overtake the New York Yankees.  Price has 15 wins and 146 strikeouts in his 24 games started this year.  He is holding the other teams to a batting average of .229 and he has maintained an ERA of less than three all year (2.97).    Price is in the best position to continue his success and, in my opinion, win the AL Cy Young Award.

            I know there is a lot of time until the season is over but there are already some clear cut contenders for the Cy Young Awards in both leagues.  Take your pick and next week I’ll be back to tell you who is looking good in the MVP races in the AL and NL.  Any questions or comments or if you want to tell me who you think should win, visit the Forum under the General Discussion board and look for The Cy Young Race.