MLB power rankings: Ranking the Cy Young candidates without leagues

Whether you like fWAR or bWAR, Alcantara has been impressive. He leads all pitchers in MLB in bWAR, and sixth in fWAR (fWAR favors Strikeouts more than bWAR).

Alcantara also leads all of MLB in innings pitched while maintaining excellent rate stats. As we know, the more innings you pitching, the higher odds there are to have a bad outing.

Prior to August, Alcantara was the obvious front runner the the NL Cy Young award with no questions asked. He had a 1.99 ERA through July with hitters batting a measly .194/.256/.301 against him. However, since then his ERA since the start of August has been 3.70 with hitters batting .256/.296/.381 against him.

This was due in large part that he gave up 6 ER twice in that span. Even with these two bad outings, his full season numbers are still excellent. He has a 2.36 ERA with batters hitting .209/.265/.320 against him.

That is a .585 OPS. Just to put that OPS in perspective, if a hitter had an OPS of .585, that would put them 136th in MLB.

As far as rankings go, Alcantara is 2nd in the NL in ERA and ERA+, 5th in WHIP, 4th in hits per 9 innings, 6th in Strikeouts, 1st in Complete Games (4), 5th in HRs per 9 innings, and 5th in FIP.

Alcantara’s ability to maintain these numbers while leading in Complete Games and Innings Pitched is what propels him so high in the rankings.

The ageless wonder who is back after missing last season due to injury has truly been a site to see. Just the fact that he is hanging with the younger guys in the Cy Young conversation is a testament in and of itself. But, to be a front runner brings it to a new level.

Verlander leads the AL in WHIP with a 0.855 and leads the AL in ERA with a 1.84. Wins are now widely accepted as not a good metric to use to evaluate a pitcher, but if voters look at Wins, he also leads the AL in Wins as well.

Justin Verlander is still doing his usual of not walking many batters, walking 1.54 per 9 innings, which is the 3rd best in the AL.

Verlander has been aided a bit with a BABIP of .238, however, that should not be used against him since it is only an indicator of possible future regression. That regression has not happened.

All of this work has put him second in bWAR in the AL and 2nd in fWAR as well. What Verlander is doing is exceptional, and currently puts him in 1st in the power rankings.

Honorable Mentions: Gerrit Cole, Alek Manoah, Zack Wheeler, Spencer Strider