Cy Young final watch

            The dust has settled, and the baseball season is over.  Tomorrow, we will see one-game playoffs in the Wild Card for the first time.  As a bow is put on the 2012 season, I present my final Cy Young watch.  This is how I would fill out the ballet No. 1 – No.5 in each league.

 American League

1)    Jered Weaver, LAA, 20-5, 2.81 ERA, 142 K, 1.02 WHIP

2)    Justin Verlander, DET, 17-8, 2.64 ERA, 239 K, 1.06 WHIP

3)    Fernando Rodney, TB, 48 SV, 0.60 ERA, 76 K, 0.78 WHIP

4)    David Price, TB, 20-5, 2.56 ERA, 205 K, 1.10 WHIP

5)    Felix Hernandez, SEA, 13-9, 3.06 ERA, 223 K, 1.14 WHIP

Jered Weaver of the Angels is my pick from the American League to capture the 2012 Cy Young.

What a race this will be, and it’s hard to say which way the ballots will go.  Weaver may get hurt for missing some time with injuries, but he still threw a no-hitter, led the AL in WHIP among qualifying starters, and tied for the AL lead in wins.  Verlander makes a case for picking up a second Cy Young by leading the major leagues in strikeouts with 239 and getting the Tigers back to the postseason.  If the season didn’t have so many strong starters, Rodney would’ve run away with the award dominating out of the Tampa bullpen.  His ERA of 0.60 is the best ever for a reliever with over 50 appearances in a season.  Price tied Weaver for wins in the A.L. with 20, and he led the A.L. in ERA at 2.56.  And, Felix Hernandez faltered a bit down the stretch, but King Felix still had a perfect game and won 4 games this season by the score of 1-0.

National League

1)    R.A. Dickey, NYM, 20-6, 2.73 ERA, 230 K, 1.05 WHIP

2)    Gio Gonzalez, WAS, 21-8, 2.89 ERA, 207 K, 1.13 WHIP

3)    Johnny Cueto, CIN, 19-9, 2.78 ERA, 170 K, 1.17 WHIP

4)    Matt Cain, SF, 16-5, 2.79 ERA, 193 K, 1.04 WHIP

5)    Aroldis Chapman, CIN, 38 SV, 1.51 ERA, 122 K, 0.81 WHIP

R.A. Dickey has had an amazing season for the New York Mets in 2012, and it should end up with him landing the Cy Young.

Another very close race, but I think Dickey get the nod in the National League.  Dickey led the league in strike outs, won twenty games, and he finished second in ERA.  Gonzalez put together a great season in Washington, leading the major leagues with 21 wins for the surprising Nationals.  Cueto led the Reds to the N.L. Central title, ending up third in the National League in both wins and ERA.  Matt Cain was masterful all season hurling a perfect game to go along with ranking second in the NL in WHIP and fourth in ERA.  Chapman put up a dominating power season out of the Reds’ bullpen, striking out 122 batters in 71.2 IP while finishing third in the N.L. in saves at 38.