Sabathia & Price lead AL Cy Young Award race

Written by Rob Munstis | 13 September 2010

Since we last discussed the AL CY Young Award candidates, some of the pitchers have kept pace and some have fallen off. Here's a quick looks at where we stand with just over 20 games left to play:

C.C. Sabathia still leads the league with 19 wins. His 170 Ks rank him 8th, but his 3.14 ERA ranks 6th and the combination of the three make him a front-runner for the CYA.

David Price grabbed his 17th win of the season against the Sox back on the 7th. He also dropped his ERA to 2.87 in that game and sits at 163 strikeouts - just a few behind Cliff Lee (166) and Sabathia. With a better ERA and an easy schedule in September, I think Price could end up woth equal or better numbers than Sabathia come October 1st.

Felix Hernandez leads the AL with 214 Ks. He also leads the AL with a 2.39 ERA. That would usually make him a lock for the CYA, but he's only been able to tally 11 wins thanks to a lack of run support from the Mariners lineup. When you factor in the fact that Felix also leads the league with 225 innings pitched - 7.25 IP per start - I'd crown King Felix the winner, but if Sabathia logs 20 wins, it will almost impossible not to give it to him.

The Red Sox had two pitchers in the running with Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, but Buchhy's implosion over the weekend gives him an ERA of 2.53 (2nd), 104 Ks and a 15-7 record. He'd have to be perfect down the stretch to have a real shot now.

Lester ranks 10th with a 3.26 ERA, but he has 16 wins (5th) and 196 Ks (3rd), which gives him a better show at the CYA than Buchholz. It's safe to assume he'll keep pace in the strikeout category, but if he wants a real shot at the price, he'll have to get that ERA under 3.00 - and that won't be easy.

If he threw 6 shutout innings in his next thre starts, he'd dip down to 2.97... but if he allows 2 runs through 6 innings in each of the next three games, he would only drop to 3.24, despite logging three quality starts.

Bottom Line: Sabathia and Price will square off tonight in Tampa while Lester face the Mariners in Seattle. Hernandez got beat up by the Angels on Saturday, so he'll need to bounce back at the end of the week if he wants to stay in the hunt.