AL Cy Young Award Race Isn't Such An Obvious Pick This Year

I honestly haven’t been able to decide on who would get my vote if I were voting, but I can’t understand why Felix is being down talked for his 13 wins and the fact that he pitches in the AL West. His win-lose record isn’t his fault, and if that’s what one is basing much of their decision on for picking their Cy Young winner in the voting, then they shouldn’t be voting at all. A win-lose record can hardly sum up what a guy has done for his team.

King Felix has gotten some of the worst run support of any pitcher, and his team is the second worst in the league. His ERA is the lowest ERA in baseball, and he’s been a workhorse for yet another year, throwing well over 200 innings.

As for the fact that he doesn’t pitch in the AL East, look at the numbers. He’s 5-1 against the AL East with a 0.69 ERA against the teams in that division. How’s that for domination.

I understand that the Cy Young award is about winning, and there are five other guys that deserve it as much as Felix Hernandez does in Clay Buchholz, Justin Verlander, CC Sabathia, David Price, and Jon Lester. The vote is a hard one, no matter how you cut it. All I’m saying is that don’t write off King Felix just because he doesn’t pitch in the AL East and he has a 13-12 record.

Everyone in this group is deserving of winning the award. Maybe some more than others, but everyone is deserving of it. I see Lester and King Felix as the two most deserving, with Sabathia and Verlander the two least deserving.

As I've said above, Hernandez has pitched so much better than his win-lose record indicates, and if you take a look at any other stat of his, you'll see how. Lester has pitched extremely well, probably as well as anyone thought he could pitch, but didn't see it coming this season. And he's doing so on a Boston Red Sox team that is playing through so many injuries, they've turned into something of mediocrity.

It's easy for Sabathia and Price to rack up the wins because they have the two best teams in the league playing behind them. Not so much for Lester, who has as many wins as Price does, and very obviously Hernandez. My only beef with Verlander is that he has the highest ERA of the group, but even with that, he's still been incredible this year.

Whoever is voting on this award needs to think long and hard about every piece of information that is attached to each one of these pitchers. This is probably the hardest AL Cy Young vote in recent memory, so it comes with a larger amount of responsibility than usual, simply because the winner isn't so clear cut. But when it comes down to it, don't pick Sabathia just because he pitches for the Yankees and has 21 win. Take into account what the others have done considering their situations with their respective teams.