Forever (Cy) Young, or The Follies Of A Matt Harvey Fanboy.

Last season, we saw an incredible race for the AL MVP between winner Miguel Cabrera and runner-up Mike Trout. If you don't remember it, there are 3 "Cage Match: Cabrera vs. Trout" posts hidden in the alcoves of this very blog to jog your memory (and raise my view count). While we're seeing a calmer version of the same race this year, the most intriguing award run this season is by far that for the NL Cy Young award. As it stands today, there are 3 serious candidates for the honor: Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright, and Matt Harvey. In this post, I'll do something that's personally testing, which is putting aside my irrational obsession with Harvey, and try to break this race down without bias. I doubt I'll succeed, but here we go.

Clayton Kershaw: When the Dodgers signed Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu this offseason, both moves made some serious waves. A top of the line, former Cy Young winner, and a Korean import who was looking to electrify fans this side of the Pacific, are pretty huge improvements to any rotation. When they joined Los Angeles, though, it was clear neither would be starting on Opening Day. That's because Clayton Kershaw exists. Let's not even take into account Kershaw's amazing numbers from last year, when he was the runner-up for this award to R.A. Dickey's knuckleballing campaign. Let's not acknowledge the dominant numbers he put up in 2011 when he won the award for the first time. Simply focusing on 2013, here's what Kershaw has done through the middle of August: in 190.1 innings, he has a 12-7 record, which works very hard to mask the 1.80 ERA (leads all of baseball), 0.85 WHIP (leads the NL), and 182 strikeouts (good for second in the NL, 9 ahead of Wainwright and 8 behind Harvey). His FIP and xFIP, more specific measures for how well a pitcher is at preventing runs, are 2.39 and 2.92. Even if he pitched more in line with those numbers, he'd still be one of the top 3 pitchers in the NL (!). He's been compared to another Dodgers lefthander you may have heard of...Sandy Koufax, who himself has said Kershaw is one of the greatest pitchers he's ever seen (!!). And he's only 25 (!!!). Forget Cy Young, we may be looking at this year's NL MVP.

Adam Wainwright: Another hurler in contention for an award he's already won once, Wainwright's path back from a lost 2011 season has been fantastic. After undergoing Tommy John surgery right before the Cardinals stunned the baseball world. Adam put up a nice season in 2012, which now appears to be an appropriate precursor to 2013. Thus far, he's shut down opponents at a frightening rate, with 4 complete games (most in the NL) and 2 shutouts (only Kershaw has as many). His 189.2 innings are just behind Kershaw, and his 173 strikeouts are third behind Clayton and the young Harvey. His 14-7 record is more indicative of the defense behind him and the offense supporting him, but his presence on the mound is enough. When Chris Carpenter, the workhorse who picked up the slack left behind by Waino's rehab in 2011, went down this offseason with a debilitating injury of his own, Adam had a chance to pay Carpenter back in kind, and he has certainly done that and more. Because of his veteran experience, young phenoms like Shelby Miller and Trevor Rosenthal have been rock steady on the way to another potential playoff appearance, while going deep into games prevents the bullpen from taking on too much. It's hard to believe that Wainwright is just a few weeks shy of 32, as it seems like he's been a force for St. Louis for much longer than 8 seasons. While a second Cy Young might not be in the cards for this Card in 2013, there's no doubt that he's still in top form, and still one of the best hurlers in today's game.

Matt Harvey: Man, I love Matt Harvey. It's still so weird for me to say, because even though I'm a fan of all things baseball, I'm primarily a Yankees and Braves fan. Rooting for a Met is tantamount to blasphemy in my world. But against my better judgment, and knowing full well the flack I will catch from my brethren and sistren who root for the aforementioned franchises, I will say this: Matt Harvey is one of baseball's best pitchers. Consider this: in his age-24 season, his record is 9-5, which is MUCH more on the shoulders of the, pardon my language, Mets than it is on his. That aside, his 190 strikeouts currently lead the NL, his 0.92 WHIP just barely misses out on giving him the top spot in that category, and his 33 walks give him the second best K/BB ratio in the league as well. While Wainwright and Kershaw may be trading blows for the top spot in most stats, the fact that Harvey is entrenched at second behind them both may be all he needs to end up with the hardware in November. The biggest blow against him, though, will be when he's shut down at 200 innings (which he's rapidly approaching with 177.2 as of this writing), at which point Kershaw and Wainwright will be able to surge further past him while he's out of action. But it says quite a lot about Matt that, with this in mind, he's still being touted as a serious contender for this award in his first full season in the major leagues. While he may not take it home this year, he'll certainly be in the conversation for years to come. And I will continue unabashedly touting my new hurling hero until he wins.

It's highly likely we'll see Kershaw win his second Cy, so we'll go with him to take the award, with Harvey a close second and Wainwright an even closer third. Of course, now that it's been said on this blog, it'll automatically be wrong, so we'll just have to wait until November.