Handicapping the AL CY Young Race

Another race that likely came to an end after Saturday’s action was Chien-Ming Wang’s chances at the Cy Young award. After allowing 5 ER in 5.2 innings at Fenway on Saturday, Wang stands at 18-7 with a 3.82 ERA. Wang was a long shot for the award in the first place but combined with Josh Beckett’s dominating performance and his 19^th win, Wang’s chances seem to have faded. His really only chance in the first place was to become the AL’s only 20 game winner and for the other favorites to struggle down the stretch, but that seems unlikely now. Wang will likely get 2 or 3 more starts depending on how the Yankees handle their rotation down the stretch so 20 wins is certainly still a possibility, but his ERA and K’s simply don’t stand up to the other top pitchers in the American League. The Yankees are without a Cy Young award winner since Roger Clemens won it in 2001, although many can argue that Mariano Rivera deserved it in 2005 over Bartolo “What the hell happened to my career” Colon.

The AL Cy Young Race is a two horse race now in your humble author’s opinion, and those two horses names are Josh Beckett and C.C. Sabathia. If not for injury, Erik Bedard, surely would have been the front runner, leading the league in K’s before succumbing to a strained oblique. John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar have had fantastic seasons but will likely cancel each other out in the voting, Johan Santana has not been nearly as dominant as he usually post all star break, Dan Haren has faded after a superb first half, and Fausto Carmona is still overshadowed by Sabathia, leaving C.C. and Beckett as the main contenders. Here’s how they stack up: Josh Beckett is the MLB leader in victories with a 19-6 record, a 3.20 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 180 K’s in 188.2 innings. C.C. Sabathia, on the other hand, stands at 17-7 with a 3.21 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and 198 K’s in 227 innings. As you can see, Beckett has the upperhand in winning percentage, ERA, WHIP, and K/9. Sabathia’s biggest strength is how many more innings he’s pitched, which could help one make the argument that he’s been more valuable to his team. Still, the numbers don’t lie and Beckett bests Sabathia in most of the important categories.

Prediction in Cy Young voting 1. Josh Beckett

2. C.C. Sabathia

3. Fausto Carmona

4. Chien-Ming Wang

5. John Lackey