I don't know who the other two finalists for NL Cy Young are. Nor do I care. If the postseason counted, Madison Bumgarner would perhaps give Clayton Kershaw a run for his money. But it doesn't. So he won't. Kershaw is going to win so unanimously, it's not even worth pretending somebody else has a chance.
He was the most dominant player in baseball this year. That's why he's most likely going to take home major hardware two days in a row. And he deserves to. Because as great as Justin Verlander's 2011 Cy Young/MVP season was, Kershaw's 2014 was that much better. If they were allowed to, I bet some of the voters would put Kershaw both first and second on their ballot. His second straight Cy Young (and third in four years) will be unanimous, and his MVP might be close.
For what it's worth, the battle for second place is between Adam Wainwright and Johnny Cueto. Wainwright may get the better of Kershaw in the playoffs, but when it comes to the Cy Young race, he plays second fiddle to the Dodgers lefty. This is the fourth time in six years that he'll finish in the top three, and probably the third time in four years that he'll finish second to Kershaw. Cueto will likely be third. He went 20-9 with a 2.25 ERA and led the National League in strikeouts, but his body of work for a Reds team that failed to make the playoffs simply doesn't stack up.
The only real suspense on Cy Young day comes over in the American League, where it's King Felix against Corey Kluber and Chris Sale. In this one, who's going to win is actually a mystery. It's really anybody's guess. Perhaps the most interesting thing about this trio is that none of their teams made the playoffs, making this much more of a wild card.
Felix Hernandez looks like the favorite, and he'd get my vote. A couple years ago, he won the Cy Young on a last-place Mariners team, which I strongly disagreed with. But this year, I'll have no problem with it. The Mariners were actually relevant this year. He wasn't pitching in meaningless games from July on. Quite the contrary actually. He started Game 162, which Seattle needed to win if they were to have any chance of forcing a one-game playoff to get into the Wild Card Game.
Even though Seattle came up just short, he pitched like the ace he is. It would've been nice to see Felix Hernandez finally pitching in the playoffs (although, the Mariners likely would've lost the Wild Card Game without him pitching), but he might get that chance next year. As for 2014, he was his usual dominant stuff. King Felix's record was just 15-6, but that can be overlooked because of his league-leading 2.14 ERA, under-1.00 WHIP and career-high strikeout total. Even more impressive, he pitched his best within the division, which featured a pair of playoff teams.
Kluber, meanwhile, came out of nowhere to notch a league-leading 18 wins for Cleveland. He was also second in the AL in strikeouts. I saw him pitch on Paul O'Neill Day at Yankee Stadium, and he was completely dominant in a 10-strikeout performance. From off the radar entirely to a Cy Young finalist. Not a bad year for Corey Kluber. But it doesn't compare to Felix Hernandez's.
Our third finalist is Chris Sale, who we might be talking about as the likely winner if he hadn't missed six weeks early in the season. Because of that, he made only 26 starts. But he was sooooooo good in those 26 starts, going 12-4 with a 2.17 ERA. Give Chris Sale a full season and he will win a Cy Young Award. It's not going to happen this year, though. It wouldn't be fair to the other two to give it to a guy that missed that much time.
So, it turns out there might not actually be that much suspense in the AL after all. It won't be as much of a runaway as Kershaw's victory, but I fully expect Felix Hernandez to win his second Cy Young Award.
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