So I looked over some stats and decided people need to be told the whole story. There are a few other contenders for the NL CY Young Award. I originally did not want to analyze them but then I thought why not compare him to other players that people think are better, Halladay after all is the best pitcher in baseball.
So the first one I do is Josh Johnson. Low ERA 1.62. Minuscule ERA, I am amazed he has kept it up as long as he has. He has 128 innings pitched, an outstanding 130 strikeouts with only 28 walks. He has one complete game and no shutouts. So why him?
The key thing to note when comparing him to Halladay is that there is a significant difference in ERA so the fact that he has the same amount of wins should be attributed to run support. The fact he has less losses should be attributed to his amazingly low ERA.
The fact is on average he pitches one less inning than Halladay. If when it comes to wins they get the same amount, more wins should be attributed to Halladay simply because he works longer. Then there is the fact that Halladay has gotten complete games almost every other time he goes out there, has a perfect game and a few shutouts.
To counter that Johnson has an ERA of more than 0.5 less than Halladay in a more hitter friendly park. You would expect with such a minuscule ERA he has very little run support but he gets 4.83 runs per game in support versus Halladay's 3.32. So he gets 1.5 runs per game more which is odd until you realize his team completely demolishes teams one day and doesn't do much the next.
I still like the fact that Johnson has 20 innings less pitched than Halladay along with so many complete games. If Johnson pitched that much he would have been exhausted earlier and would not have these numbers. Furthermore him having less losses boils down to run support, not much more. Also Johnson gets a lot of innings but needs good relievers to finish the job for him, Halladay normally does it all himself.
Now Wainwright is a real threat. He is much closer to Halladay's stats than Johnson. Johnson's ERA is the thing that makes people think he's way better but I assure you the real threat is Wainwright and Jimenez. Wainwright has only pitched six innings less than Halladay, and has two more strikeouts.
His ERA is 2.02 and that means he is about 0.17 below Halladay which is outstanding. I love it personally. The only problem is lack of complete games (with only 4) and only one shutout. However this is not so much a weakness, it just shows he's more consistent. Wainwright gets about seven and one third of an inning every time he goes on the mound (approximately) whereas Halladay will get one inning more because he has lots of complete games.
Wainwright also got more run support at 5.03 runs per game which really helps you win. If Halladay gets that kind of run support (not unreasonable to expect that from the Phillies offense) then he would have way more wins.
The key to remember is who would you rather have if you need to win a game? I would rather have Halladay because he will more often than not go the distance. There's a reason he is always in CY Young voting, he is that good.
Most people argue it's a 4 man race. I say drop Johnson from that race, he's a great pitcher, I'm taking nothing away from him but the NL has had so many star pitchers this year. It's like the Yankees WS win made pitching popular again.
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