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Breaking down baseball’s Cy Young ballot
Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers returned from injury late in the season and kickstarted his Cy Young-worthy season in Chavez Ravine. Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Breaking down baseball’s Cy Young ballot

As the final week of the regular season in Major League Baseball moving along quickly, the race for the remaining playoff spots is getting tighter and tighter. Likewise, so are the at-bats and innings for the fortunate few top performers on the season that are in firing range of landing an individual award for the season.

And while it will be another month before the announcements are made, the deadline for ballots to be in to select 2016’s Cy Young ballots are due imminently, with a few candidates having already finished up their seasons on the mound.

In a year where virtually every hurler with a claim to the award has a not-so-clear path to it for one reason or another, it should be one of the most diverse  – and debated – years in recent history for the honor in both leagues. So what factors could separate one player from the next when it is time to pick chose for the voters? Here is a look at the pros and cons, as well as the potential outcomes for the Cy Young honors in both the American and National League this year.

(All players are in alphabetical order, as to not pick favorites too soon)

American League Candidates

Cole Hamels, Rangers
Pro—Hamels has lived up to the king size ransom the Rangers paid to acquire him at last summer’s trade deadline, winning 15 games with a 3.30 ERA, while approaching both 200 innings and strikeouts.
Con—He has been more steady than dominant at any particular point, so he could blend into the pack when some of the bigger stat lines are compared against him.
Prediction: Hamels, who never finished higher than fifth in the National League’s Cy Young race while a member of the Phillies, will struggle to place much higher than that in his new league this season.

J.A. Happ, Blue Jays
Pro—Happ went on a tear thru the middle of the season, being credited with the victory in 10 of 11 starts from June 11th through August 17th. He has only lost four games on the year and has set career highs in wins, strikeouts and WHIP.
Con—In an era where wins are undervalued in favor of advanced metrics, Happ’s strongest stat could be dwarfed by the fact he does not blow away the stat sheet in any other category.
Prediction: Happ is a part of a strong ensemble in Toronto, and will also blend in to the Cy Young race’s top ten towards the bottom half.

Corey Kluber, Indians
Pro—Kluber has been the driving force for the strength of the AL Central champion Indians. He has equaled his career best in wins (18), while leading the AL in Fielding Independent Pitching a 3.25, while checking into the top three in strikeouts, innings pitched and winning percentage.
Con—He could be compared against his own previous Cy Young bar he set for himself two years ago, when he had a much lower ERA and threw 20 more innings.
Prediction: Kluber is in a great position to take home a second Cy Young in three years time, due to his presence among the top of many traditional counting stats sheets, as well as advanced measures as well. Plus he pitches for a contender, which never hurts either.

Rick Porcello, Red Sox
Pro—He has had two months of winning every time he has gone to the mound, two other months of losing only once. Add all of that up, and it equals a 22-4 record and a .846 winning percentage.
Cons—There could be the idea that he is benefiting simply from being on a really good team, as the Red Sox have averaged a whopping 7.7 runs per Porcello victory.
Prediction: 22 wins is still an awful lot of wins and he has a 11-2 record with a 2.51 ERA after the All-Star Break. He’ll get a top five finish, at least.

David Price, Red Sox
Pro—He’s been a workhorse for the BoSox, leading the AL in innings pitched (218.2), and has not lost a start since August 7th.
Cons—Price’s first half was underwhelming by his standards (4.34) and it could be held against him that he was not as excellent regularly as his record-price tag would suggest he should be.
Prediction: Price will get his usual high honors mark in the final vote (top three finisher in three of the last four years), but not breakthrough for a second Cy Young this year.

Chris Sale, White Sox
Pro—He was the dominant pitcher of the first half of the season, winning 14 games and starting the All-Star Game for the AL. He has finished what he has started an MLB-best six times as well.
Cons—Sale has fallen victim to his surroundings since his fast start, winning only two games since picking up his 14th victory on July 2nd, despite lowering his ERA in the second half.
Prediction: His overall package is strong, as he sits in the top five in wins, innings, strikeouts, ERA and WHIP. Plus he’ll get points for being a good solider in a hopeless environment. A top fourth straight top four finish should be his.

Justin Verlander
Pro—He has channeled his vintage self, leading the AL in strikeouts with 234, while only allowing more than two runs once since July 1st.
Cons—Despite his regularly strong outings, his impact this year has flown mostly under the radar and it could be subject to comparison to his irreplaceable former dominance as well.
Prediction: Verlander makes a surprisingly high finish in the voting, perhaps even getting runner-up honors. He has been indispensable to the Tigers wild card push this year.

National League Candidates

Jake Arrieta, Cubs
Pro—He has among the NL leaders in nearly a dozen categories, with his 18 wins checking in at 3rd in the NL. Batters are managing an MLB-low .186 average against him.
Cons—Arrieta has been rather inconsistent at time this year, offsetting three months of undefeated pitching with a July where he posted a 4.88 ERA and September of alternating wins and losses.
Prediction: The defending Cy Young winner will be lumped into the pack with the strong performances of his rotation mates and potentially not even be the highest finishing Cub in the award race.

Madison Bumgarner, Giants
Pro—Once again, he is high ranking in many of the categories that count most, including innings pitched (2nd), strikeouts (3rd), ERA (4th) and complete games (2nd).
Cons—Mad Bum has had seven games of allowing four or more earned runs, while posting an ERA of over 3.50 in three different months.
Prediction: With a so-so win/loss record, Bumgarner once again gets lost in the pack with a finish that does not belie the true value of him to his team’s overall output.

Johnny Cueto, Giants
Pro—Cueto has recaptured the workhorse form that he once had in Cincinnati, leading the NL in complete games and checking in third in innings pitched, while still finishing in the top 5 in wins (17) and ERA (2.79) as well. He
Cons—His contributions will be offset by the presence of Bumgarner in his rotation as well, although he has arguably been the most consistent Giants hurler.
Prediction: See the above cons.

Jose Fernandez, Marlins
Pro—Fernandez was regularly overwhelming opponents at a tremendous rate. He averaged 12.5 strikeouts per nine innings and owning nine double digit strikeout games, including five outings of 13 or more K’s.
Cons—He never had a chance to put the finishing touches on his best season to date.
Prediction—It is far from a stretch to think that Fernandez could become the first posthumous Cy Young winner this year. And it would be far from a sentiment nod, as he was unhittable more often than nearly any other pitcher.

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers
Pros—His brilliance this season was at another level even by his own lofty heights. He has a 16.8-to-1 walk to strikeout ratio (168 K’s versus 10 walks) and has allowed one or fewer runs in 10 of his 20 starts.
Cons—Kershaw missed July and August in their entirety battling a back issue, thus limiting the full extent of what his season could have beheld.
Prediction: He has returned from injury and not skipped a beat, allowing six hits over his last three outings. He will still have a very strong presence along the top of many ballots and could finish in the top three.

Kyle Hendricks, Cubs
Pros: He has steadily remained among one of the toughest pitchers to connect against in baseball, and has allowed only four runs in September. His post All-Star break ERA is down to 1.36 and hitters are swinging to the tone of a .204 average against him.
Cons: He sort of came out of nowhere, and while that is not a bad thing (see 2015 Jake Arrieta) Hendricks has not done it in such a headline inducing manner.
Prediction: The 26-year-old could be the next in-line out of nowhere Cy Young winner in the Chi. But he could also have his contributions be tempered by the presence of Arrieta and Lester’s strong performances as well.

Jon Lester, Cubs
Pros: He has gone to the whip in the second half and has not lost a game since before the All-Star break. Lester has allowed two runs in September, while pulling himself to the brink of 20 wins.
Cons: He got hit around pretty heavily in July (7.36 ERA) before settling in.
Prediction: Lester could easily slide into a creeping ahead for the Cy Young away from his equally impressive rotation mates, among others. He is pitching top flight ball for the best team in baseball, and needing virtually no run support to pull it off. A 20th win could clinch it for him.

Max Scherzer, Nationals
Pros: Scherzer is tied for the NL lead in wins, while leading it in innings pitched, strikeouts, starts and lowest WHIP. Add in his instant classic 20 strikeout game from May, and he has some tough to replicate highs on his resume.
Cons: He is on the verge of surrendering 30 home runs on the year –more than any other Cy Young contender— many of which cost him a handful of victories.
Prediction: He is the only candidate that has pitched a full season for a division winning team and has no rotation mate that can make a similar claim for the award as he can. Scherzer can stand out from the crowd in a more complete and distinct manner than any other contender.

Can you name every pair of MLB teammates to win the MVP and CY Young Award in the same season?

Instances in which the MVP and Cy Young winner were the same person (ex: Clayton Kershaw in 2014) are not included.

SCORE:
0/38
TIME:
10:00
1957-MVP-NL
Hank Aaron
1957-CY-NL
Warren Spahn
1959-MVP-AL
Nellie Fox
1959-CY-AL
Early Wynn
1960-MVP-NL
Dick Groat
1960-CY-NL
Vern Law
1961-MVP-AL
Roger Maris
1961-CY-AL
Whitey Ford
1962-MVP-NL
Maury Wills
1962-CY-NL
Don Drysdale
1967-MVP-AL
Carl Yastrzemski
1967-CY-AL
Jim Lonborg
1974-MVP-NL
Steve Garvey
1974-CY-NL
Mike Marshall
1980-MVP-NL
Mike Schmidt
1980-CY-NL
Steve Carlton
1982-MVP-AL
Robin Yount
1982-CY-AL
Pete Vuckovich
1984-MVP-NL
Ryne Sandberg
1984-CY-NL
Rick Sutcliffe
1988-MVP-NL
Kirk Gibson
1988-CY-NL
Orel Hershiser
1990-MVP-NL
Barry Bonds
1990-CY-NL
Doug Drabek
1990-MVP-AL
Rickey Henderson
1990-CY-AL
Bob Welch
1991-MVP-NL
Terry Pendleton
1991-CY-NL
Tom Glavine
1993-MVP-AL
Frank Thomas
1993-CY-AL
Jack McDowell
2002-MVP-AL
Miguel Tejada
2002-CY-AL
Barry Zito
2005-MVP-NL
Albert Pujols
2005-CY-NL
Chris Carpenter
2006-MVP-AL
Justin Morneau
2006-CY-AL
Johan Santana
2013-MVP-AL
Miguel Cabrera
2013-CY-AL
Max Scherzer

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