3 dark-horse candidates to win the AL Cy Young Award

Tarik Skubal and Corbin Burnes are favorites for AL Cy Young this season, but there are still several players behind them. Should either of those two falter, it could open up a spot for one of these three to sneak in. It will take a strong finish, but these three dark-horse candidates for AL Cy Young have been having fantastic seasons in their own right.

Don't sleep on these pitchers making a strong push forward and jumping into the forefront of the conversation.

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3. Brady Singer

The Kansas City Royals are close to returning to the postseason, and a big reason is their starting rotation. Seth Lugo has been an ace, but right behind him is Brady Singer, who currently owns an ERA mark of 3.03 after tonight's outing against the Boston Red Sox. Predicted earlier this year to have a much better season by Fansided's Joel Wagler, Brady is enjoying a career year in which he can still hunker down and increase his numbers as the season progresses.

In the top 14 percent of pitching Run Value, Singer's xERA is actually much higher at 4.45, suggesting that the advanced metrics see regression is coming. Another indication that he's getting a bit lucky is the lower-than-league average BABIP of .278, along with leaving 81.6 percent of runners on base. That's a good thing, but also something that, eventually, it's going to bite you. In the meantime, Singer is still one of the better starting pitchers in the American League. If he can continue lowering his ERA and finish the year with a sub-3.00, he's absolutely in the conversation.

2. Logan Gilbert

Logan Gilbert is one of two Seattle Mariners starting pitchers to grace this list, given how dominant he has been throughout the season. His ERA of 3.05 over 147.2 IP had him on pace to clear 200.0 innings this season, and he has an outside shot at 200 Ks on the year if he gets a couple of high strikeout games along the way. He is in the top three percent of Run Value as a pitcher, and his 4.6 BB% is in the top six percent in MLB. This is the third year in a row that he has had great numbers across the board

Given how fantastic he has been, Gilbert's 6-8 record on the season means nothing. Seeing how lackluster Seattle has been offensively this year, it's no surprise that he isn't getting the run support to have a good record. Put this guy on a team like the Dodgers or Orioles, and he'd win you 20 games a year. Surprisingly, he's not even the best starting pitching on his team at this point, but he would be the ace of almost any other pitching staff in the league,

1. George Kirby

If you've caught a Seattle Mariners game this year, you know George Kirby is the real deal. Through 23 starts, Kirby has a 3.04 ERA and 2.71 FIP, which suggests that as dominant as he's been, he's actually been getting unlucky, too. When you look under the hood, things only get better. Run Value? top two percent in MLB. Fastball Run Value, in particular? Top one percent. BB%? Top one percent. Just elite numbers across the board and the only reason he's 8-7 is that Seattle has given him the Jacob deGrom treatment in terms of run support, I.E., there isn't any, same as Gilbert before him.

Seattle does have a fantastic rotation, however, and Kirby is currently their number 1 starter at this point. If Seattle makes it back to the playoffs, you can thank their starting pitching, which has been fantastic all season, and Kirby's big step forward this season will undoubtedly have him in the Cy Young voting. Whether or not he wins will depend on how he closes the season, but do not sleep on him as the season progresses. There's no slowing down in sight for him from a production standpoint.