Handicapping the American League Cy Young Award Chase for 2007

Good luck to anyone trying to handicap the American League Cy Young race at this point in the season, as even with about six weeks to go it is as wide open an affair as one could imagine. There are several contenders for the AL Cy Young Award, the honor bestowed on the pitcher deemed to have had the finest season for a particular year, named after the hurler whose record 511 victories will never be approached. At first glance at the field there are as many as a dozen contenders for the AL Cy Young Award, and even though it is relatively easy to pare a few pretenders from that group, one is still left with a hard choice between several players.

The pretenders in this group are Paul Byrd of the Indians, Justin Verlander of the Tigers, Tim Wakefield of the Red Sox, and Chien-Ming Wang of the Yankees. Although all four are among the AL leaders in triumphs on the hill, they all possess earned run averages around or over four runs per game. Wakefield, the ageless knuckleballer, has managed a decision in every contest he has been in this season, and his 15 wins are tied for tops in the circuit, but his ERA is an inflated 4.35, indicating he has received more than adequate run support.

Even with the elimination of this quartet, you still are left with a plethora of worthy candidates. Starting at the top in terms of wins, there is Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox. Beckett has a 15-5 mark with 148 strikeouts, good for seventh in the American League. Beckett has managed to wriggle off the hook in a handful of games that he left trailing though, and despite a fine ERA of 3.15, there are some even lower this year. One of those belongs to Johan Santana, who is making a late push towards a third Cy Young Award. Johan just struck out 17 Orioles in a superb performance, a number that will attract voters' attention when it comes time to decide this race. Santana has a 2.88 ERA to go with over 35 less hits than innings pitched, an important stat for pitchers. However, he is just 13-9 and is going to have little room for any losses in the coming weeks if he is to garner this award once more.