Kingdom

As fans of baseball, we constantly find ourselves disagreeing with the so-called expert writers and their votes for award winners. We took exception with the AL Gold Glove winners, for good reason. But we also seemed to agree with the Cy Young picks. Maybe not all of the awards are up to date with the times, but it feels like we're in a good place with the Cy Young.

And that's a good thing. Not everyone can admit to a win-loss record not being the most critical statistic for starting pitchers, especially when that's so dependent upon the rest of the team's performance. What we have found out, is that voters are singing the same tune. In 2006, Brandon Webb wins the award with 16 wins. Tim Lincecum wins his second award in a row, with just 15 wins, in 2009. Zach Greinke, 2009, he had 16 wins. And this season, Felix Hernandez won the award despite being 13-12. The standard fan of baseball might say that CC Sabathia should have won in 2009 and in 2010, I mean after all, he's won 40 games in two years. And it's not to take away what he's accomplished, because he deserved consideration.

But the fact is, he didn't win it because Felix Hernandez proved that he was the most dominant pitcher in the American League, despite only winning 13 games. Well, that will happen when you pitch for one of the historically worst offenses in baseball. He logged 249 innings, much of those with his team tied or trailing. A WHIP of only 1.06, and yet he was tagged with 12 losses. Many would argue that Felix Hernandez could never do what he did in New York. I argue that CC Sabathia doesn't win 40 games if he was pitching for Seattle.

Despite what a Michael Wilbon, or Rick Reilly, or any other sports personality might thing, the fact is, the tide has turned for the Cy Young voting. Statistics outside of wins for a pitcher do matter. WHIP, ERA, ER, strikeouts.. they're essential. And as a result, we've largely had the most deserving pitcher win the Cy Young in recent years. That's something that doesn't need to change.