MLB: Top 5 A.L. Cy Young Award candidates

The Cy Young Award goes to the best overall pitching performance over the span of the entire season. This was more difficult to decipher than initially anticipated. Does one look at wins? ERA? Innings pitched? Number of strikeouts? It isn’t easy and I do not necessarily envy the members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) who are the lucky few who are afforded the right to make this extremely tough decision.

It goes beyond those statistics mentioned, however. Does one include relief pitchers or number of saves? Should there ERAs factor in when they have pitched far fewer innings? Were there any records set?

In some circumstances I’d say yes, at first, because Dennis Eckersley won the Cy Young Award in 1992 as a closer and Mariano Rivera certainly should have at won one at one  point in his career, although he never actually did win.

Yet there have always been awards for relievers and especially now due to the announcement of the new awards for relievers, the American League Mariano Rivera Award and the National League Trevor Hoffman Award, I think that the Cy Young Award should be limited to starting pitchers in the majority of situations.

There are always exceptions to the rule like Eckersley, Rivera and Hoffman but for the sake of this season and this article this selection will be solely based on starting pitching. and their numbers as of Tuesday, August 26, 2014.I will be looking at certain statistics: wins, ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts.

Without further ado here are my top five picks (and an honorable mention)  for the 2014 American League Cy Young Award.

Honorable Mention:

Jon Lester, Oakland Athletics/Boston Red Sox — 13-8, 2.53 ERA, 1.77IP, 181K

5. Max Scherzer, Detroit Tigers

15-4, 3.13ERA, 181.oIP, 209K

Max Scherzer, the reigning Cy Young Award winner, has had a season much like his season in 2013 except that it is very hard to win 21 games period let alone two years in a row. Very few pitchers have won as many games as Scherzer did last season. Even at 15 wins with a month left to play, it is doubtful (but still possible) that Scherzer will make it to 20 wins. No one has won even 25 games since Bob Welch won 27 in 1990.

Scherzer’s performance in 2014 warrants being one of the top five candidates. He’s tied for first in wins and is second in his number of batters fanned but his ERA is a bit high compared to some of the others listed here. His overall number of innings pitched is lacking to be any higher in the rankings. Scherzer has been stellar this season and is deserving of a second Cy Young Award.

4. Chris Sale, Chicago White Sox

10-3, 2.03 ERA, 142.0 IP, 165K

Sale has the lowest ERA in the American League. He’s been incredibly good all season but he did spend time on the disabled list causing his other numbers to be lower than the a lot of his peers.

If the award was for the best ERA, Sale would win the Cy Young at ease but since other statistics factor in, Sale will have to settle here in the number four spot for 2014. However, you can’t deny that Sale’s year has been pretty spectacular.

3. David Price, Detroit Tigers

12-9, 3.00 ERA, 201.1 IP, 221 K

As of today David Price has pitched more innings and has more strikeouts than any other American League pitcher. He ranks in the top five in each category listed. Price will have to settle for third place this year.

There are a couple of pitchers who have done great things. One did so quietly and went largely unnoticed while the other gained quite a bit of national attention for his accomplishments.

2. Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians

13-7, 2.46 ERA, 186.1 IP, 205 K

Placing Corey Kluber on this list, especially in the number two spot is probably surprising, it surprised me as well. The Indians are having such an average season that Kluber’s excellence has gone widely unrecognized (except by Indians fans). He places third in the American League in four of the major categories, innings pitched, strikeouts and ERA.

Honestly, he has been the most consistent all around. He will be noticed by the BBWAA, however, he is an unlikely winner due to the accomplishments of the next pitcher on this list. If I were voting, however, I would probably give him the number one spot due to the consistency of his numbers. Realistically, he will end up somewhere in the top five.

1. Felix Hernandez, Seattle Mariners

13-4, 2.07 ERA, 191 IP, 204 K

Felix Hernandez has the best year this far of any pitcher in the American League. He started 16 straight games in which he pitched at least seven innings without giving up more than two runs. The streak only ended because the he was forced to leave a game against the Tigers and fellow Cy Young Award candidate David Price after only five innings. He had still only allowed just two runs. That’s a bad day for the 28-year-old right hander. Detroit catcher Alex Avila described how hard it is to beat the man known to the baseball world call as “King Felix,”

"“We were able to get to him, but the thing about Felix is when you get to him, it’s two runs.”"

The “King” may not have as many wins as some of the others on this list but that has been due mainly to lack of run support from his team. He is just barely behind Sale in ERA and could easily eclipse Sale before the season ends. Hernandez has been unbelievable in 2014 and is on his way to taking home his second Cy Young Award.