Starting pitcher Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals has won the American League Cy Young Award, defeating Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers.
Greinke pitched for the Spokane Indians in 2002 for his first season.
Greinke compiled a record of 16-8, an ERA of 2.16 and a WHIP of 1.073, as opposed the record of Hernandez at 19-5, an ERA of 2.49 and a WHIP of 1.135.
For those who don't know, WHIP is Walks plus Hits in Innings Pitched, which is similar to the ERA but is a more individually based statistic, while the ERA is a mix of individual performance and the performance of the defense.
The edge that Greinke appears to have had is the streak of five shutouts to open the season for the Royals.
I had favored Hernandez because I thought he had been more consistent over the course of the season, and used the compilation of more wins and fewer losses as the tie-breaker, because both the Royals and Mariners gave little run support to either pitcher, and had similar stats all-around.
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