I must really be fired up about this AL Cy Young race, because it’s the second post I’ve done on it, and I rarely go back to any subject I previously poured out my views on a post, but hearing people argue that CC should win it aggravated me enough to write a post on it again. It’s obviously a two man race for the AL Cy Young Award, and both Felix and CC made their final starts of the year last night. Like I said back in August, it was Felix’s award to lose. If anything Felix has strengthened his case over the last month and a half. Since I wrote in the original post (end of August) that it was Felix’s Cy Young to lose, they both have the same record (3-2), are within a few innings pitched of each other, have about the same K’s as each other, but CC’s ERA is two full points higher over that span. CC just happened to win his 21st game during that time span, which made more people jump on his bandwagon. Does that make him a better choice for the award? I don’t think so, because I don’t value wins and losses all that much. The award is supposed to be given to the best pitcher period, not the best pitcher on the best team. Greinke winning the award should show us that you don’t have to be on a good team, same with Cliff Lee on the Indians. Over the whole year it’s easy to see who should win the award. They both had the same amount of starts (34), but Felix threw 12 more innings, had nearly one less run on his ERA (0.91 lower), struck out 35 more hitters, and threw four more complete games (6 total) than CC. I will argue for King Felix on the points that I keep seeing light on why CC should be the winner. One last stat, 12 of 13 pitchers that held the lead in strikeouts and ERA won the award, so I’m hoping that it doesn’t go to 12 out of 14 this year.
Argument: CC won 21 games on the best team.
I know CC has won 21 games, but he’s on a team that scored the most runs in the league by nearly 50. Conversely, Felix is on a team that scored 70 less runs than anyone else in the league. You tell me which guy you’d put money on to win more games. Hell, I’d probably would’ve put money on AJ Burnett or Javier Vasquez to have more wins than Felix. If wins are so important, why aren’t Lester, Pavano, and Verlander in those Cy Young talks? They still could get 20 wins, and are comparable to CC in ERA and K’s.
Argument: CC is in a tougher division.
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I’m still having trouble getting excited about the World Series this year. This game is intriguing to me though. I guess it took sending a former A’s player to the mound in Joe Blanton for me to get excited about it. I think Blanton will do better than people expect him to, especially since fans in Philly and New York are doubting him. He could go six and hold the Yankees to two or three. I was kind of excited to see Swisher actually do something last night, but in the midst of Halloween celebrations, there were other things that were more worthy of my attention. The old CC on short rest storyline is always over hyped. The guy has done it like fifty times already, we don’t need to keep hearing about it. I’m sure he’ll be extra fired up after losing the first one to Lee. One thing I’ll never understand about A-Rod is how all of New York forgives him when he gets one hit. If we start hearing the Mr. October bs again, I might have to boycott the rest of the series. Hasn’t he been sucking just as bad as Ryan Howard this whole series? Hopefully Blanton’s tendency to give up the long ball doesn’t include him serving one up to A-Rod… Jayson Werth has been hands down the scariest hitter on either team. I hope Philly can pull out a win, but they might have to wait another night like when they have Lee on the mound. I’m hoping for a slugfest tonight, which would improve Philly’s winning odds. Hopefully they can get to CC early or else they probably won’t get to him at all.
On the heels of 
For now, though, it’s Roy Halladay who deserves the honor. Part of me thinks he might get overlooked because he’s won the award in the past, but that was six years ago. His 13-5 record is pretty remarkable when you consider he’s playing for a team that’s 8 games under .500. It’s too bad he didn’t get the opportunity to pitch for a contender on a bigger stage down the stretch run of the season. Nonetheless, if he keeps up what he’s doing, it would be a disgrace to give it to anyone else. He’s easily the most consistent and dependable of the group. All five of the other pitchers have been prone to blowups. Halladay’s worst outing, numbers-wise, came two weeks ago against the Yankees, where he gave up 5 ER on 9 H in 7 innings pitched. If that’s the WORST start you have all year, you take it in a heartbeat. On top of that, Doc basically ranks in the top two in this group in each relevant category. His 2.65 ERA is second only to Greinke’s. His 173 IP is only short of Sabathia’s 178.2. His 13 wins is only one less than Beckett and Verlander’s 14. Most impressive, his WHIP (1.08) and walks (21) are far better than anyone else’s. The only knock on Halladay’s numbers are the number of hits he’s given up and the low strikeout total – however, he’s right on par with Beckett and Sabathia in that department. As for the hits, it should be noted that Halladay gave up a league-high 253 during his 2003 Cy Young campaign. The key for him is damage control. His strikeouts are limited because he excels at going deep into games. He has 45 career complete games, only 7 less than the other five guys combined. There’s no harm in giving up hits if they don’t score.
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