As fascinating as the mutli-pitcher pileup vying for the AL Cy Young award is, the more intriguing race might be in the National League. While several pitchers in that league are building strong cases, it appears as though it will come down to the wildly disparate duo of R.A. Dickey vs. Gio Gonzalez. Dickey is the 37-year-old former journeyman knuckleballer. He is clearly the sentimental favorite, particularly within the fraternity of those who throw the dancing pitch. He has 20 victories for a terrible team -- the Mets, who are going to finish under .500, well behind Gonzalez's playoff-bound Nats.
But Gonzalez spent much of the year in the shadow of Stephen Strasburg, the teammate whose inning limit and dominance has been the subject of national debate. But Gonzalez now leads the majors in victories with 21, has given up an incredible 149 hits in nearly 200 innings and -- this is important in the eyes of some voters -- has pitched in more high-impact situations while helping Washington to the playoffs.
Both pitchers won yesterday, raising the stakes.
In the end, our best guess is that voters won't be able to look away from the story of Dickey, who has the numbers to back it up. But it is setting up to be a vote we ought to pay attention to.
