David Price should’ve won his first American League Cy Young Award.
The voters selected a pitcher who finished the season one game above .500. Felix Hernandez had a good year but not a Cy Young year.
Although Hernandez had a .227 ERA compared to Price’s .272, the difference between 13 and 19 wins is much more substantial. The thought that wins don’t matter in the voting of a Cy Young candidate is ludicrous.
Pitchers are the only players in baseball who get credit for wins. Therefore, wins are an important means of measuring one pitcher’s performance to another.
Seventeen pitchers had more wins than Hernandez in 2010. Hernandez actually won seven fewer games than he did in 2009.
Not too many players can say they won a Cy Young in a year that they won almost a third fewer games than the year prior.
To his credit, Hernandez did pitch the most innings and the second most strikeouts, which was enough for him to be a finalist for the award but not the winner.
He was by far the most dominant pitcher in the AL. Although Price was tied for second in the AL with 19 wins this season he had the best winning percentage, winning 76 percent of the games he received a decision.
His leadership and arm led the Tampa Bay Rays to their second postseason berth. He finished the season third in the AL with a 2.72 ERA. He also compiled 188 strikeouts in his 208.2 innings pitched.
He also won crucial games during the season when faced against the top pitchers in the AL including fellow Cy Young candidate CC Sabathia.
It is much more difficult to be a dominant pitcher when every game counts for your team’s postseason hopes. Price excelled when the ball was in his glove and every pitch mattered.
There are countless examples of teams not playing their best when facing teams they deem inferior. Hernandez was able to capitalize on those situations.
Although Hernandez had an incredible season, Price was the best AL pitcher in 2010.
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