By Payton Brooks
Each year since 1965, both the American League and the National League of Major League Baseball honor the best pitchers of the year - a change from the award's initial plan of honoring the best pitcher of the year - with the Cy Young award. Of course, in order to determine who the best pitchers are, there needs to be a system in place.
In this particular case, the system is for two members of the Baseball Writers Association of America from each city that has a major league team to vote for their first, second and third place picks. With the current division of National League Teams and American Leagues, 28 ballots are being cast each year for the best pitcher of the American League and 32 ballots are cast to nominate the Cy Young winner of the National League. The number of votes that are placed are weighted - each first place vote earns five points, each second place vote counts as three points and one point is given for each third place nomination.
In other words, for each pitcher who is nominated to be the best, it is the opinion of the baseball writers that matter - though that opinion is based on the number of wins, the pitcher's ERA, the number of games pitched and other statistics. This year, CC Sabathia, Brandon Webb and Tim Lincecum are in hot contention for the "best pitcher" title.
Brandon Webb had, for a while, been in the top spot in the best pitcher contention. So far Webb has received five first place nominations, however his struggles to make his twentieth win of the season have begun to catch up with him - and so has Tim Lincecum.
Lincecum who pitches for the Giants has had four first place nominations for the best pitcher spot (as of Wednesday, September 3rd). Still, given the overall votes for the Cy Young Award, at this time Lincecum is leading the total point count. However, that does not mean that CC Sabathia is out of the running. Since his move from the Cleveland Indians (an American League team) into the National League as a Milwaukee Brewer, Sabathia has not had a loss and many undecided voters are still keeping an eye on him to see what more he has to give.
If past trends are any indication of whom the best pitcher will turn out to be, it's likely that Brando Webb who won the National League Cy Young Award in 2006 may have an advantage. Of course, in 2007, CC Sabathia took home the American League Cy Young Award for his successes in Cleveland. If past wins have a favorable impact on the race for best pitcher, Sabathia and Webb may be at an advantage; on the other hand, Lincecum should not be counted out - he has had a fantastic season.
The National League's best pitcher of 2008 is still to be determined, however, it is safe to say that Lincecum, Webb and Sabathia are all definitely in the running.
Payton Brooks is a senior sports writer at Sportsview. Read and rate more free articles like this one, create your own sports and challenge others at Sportsview, the biggest sports social network.
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