Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander is one of six American League pitchers who still have a legitimate shot at the Cy Young Award with less than a month left in the season.I would pick Kansas City's Zack Greinke and Seattle's Felix Hernandez ahead of Verlander based on their performances so far.
It's anyone's guess who would actually win the award if the vote was today. Baseball writers who pick the Cy Young winners are typically enamored with victories. New York's CC Sabathia leads the league in victories with 16, but lags behind Greinke, Hernandez and Verlander in other categories.
Greinke's league-best 2.32 ERA and league-leading 6 complete games and 3 shutouts makes him the AL's best pitcher in my eyes. He also trails only Verlander in strikeouts. Greinke also will be helped by a hot start that resulted in a Sports Illustrated cover story that declared him baseball's best pitcher.
Greinke may have only 13 wins, good for just sixth in the league, but he pitches for a team with a poor offense. Cy Young voters too often hold that against pitchers.
While Sabathia has three more wins than Greinke, his ERA is more than a run higher. And Sabathia pitches for the best team in the league, so he doesn't have to shut down his opponents as Greinke does to get victories.
Verlander's main problem is a relatively high ERA of 3.38, also more than a run higher than Greinke's.
Hernandez is second in ERA and tied for third in wins.
Toronto's Roy Halladay and Boston's Josh Beckett also have an outside shot at the award for the league's best pitcher.
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