With first place in the American League East on the line Monday, neither New York Yankees left-handed pitcher CC Sabathia nor Tampa Bay Rays right-hander David Price allowed a run in eight innings. But let’s abandon our East-Coast bias for a minute because we have a better candidate for the American League Cy Young Award: Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez.
The stats are close. Hernandez has a 2.39 ERA, strikes out more batters-per-nine-innings than either Price or Sabathia and has allowed fewer home runs. Price (17-6, 2.75 ERA) walks .22 fewer batters than Hernandez every nine innings. Sabathia (19-6, 3.03 ERA) walks .31 more. Again, all three have been brilliant.
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But walks, strikeouts and homers are just about the only thing a pitcher can truly control. The rest of his stats — especially wins — are based on the team behind him. How many runs do they score? How good are their fielders? So don’t hold Hernandez’s 11-11 record against him. Seattle has a historically inept offense.
Because the stats are so close you may see Sabathia and Price as better candidates because the AL East is the best division in baseball. No argument. But both men have a distinct advantage. They don’t have to pitch against their own teams. For Sabathia, that means avoiding the sport’s best offense. Price skirts the second-best offense.
Scoff at Hernandez going against the lowly AL West if you want, but he made 10 starts against the AL’s five best offenses and didn’t get to pitch against his own team’s awful hitters. He also pitched against the Cincinnati Reds, who have scored the most runs in the National League.
Sabathia, meanwhile, made 15 starts against the AL’s five worst offenses, including three against Seattle, plus three more against the Mets and Dodgers, two poor NL lineups. In 331Ú3 innings against the Yankees and Red Sox — three of those starts on the road — Hernandez gave up just two earned runs.
