AL Cy Young

I could write a long piece criticizing Bartolo Colon's victory. Or, I could just link to Jayson Stark. Guess which I'm going to do?

If you zap wins out of the who-pitched-best equation and compare him with the guy who finished third in this voting -- Johan Santana -- it wasn't even close.

Santana piled up 81 more strikeouts, beat Colon in ERA by 61 points, allowed almost two fewer baserunners for every nine innings, and had more innings pitched, complete games and shutouts.

Hitters who faced Colon had a batting average of .254 against him. The on-base percentage against Santana was .250. Any more objections, your honor?

True, Colon had five more wins than Santana (21 vs. 16). But since Santana actually pitched more innings, how was that win gap his fault? The win differential is a stat we can attribute almost completely to their offenses. It's that basic.

Fun fact: I predicted, on September 9, that Colon would win the award. Of course, I also predicted Randy Johnson (pre-season), Jon Garland (5/20), Roy Halladay (7/6), and Jon Garland again (8/17). But Colon was my final prediction, so I'm kinda pleased with myself.