With only a couple weeks till the 2013 MLB All Star Game, we are getting close to the time when the awards talk starts to heat up. Who will take home an MVP? Cy Young Award? If things continue as they have been in the American League, the Detroit Tigers will probably sweep both awards in the AL.
With the Tigers 6-3 win Friday night over the Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit starting pitcher Max Scherzer became the first pitcher to achieve a 12-0 record since 1986. In addition to his astounding record, Scherzer has a 3.10 earned run average, a 0.90 WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) and 131 strikeouts.
Now some may the ERA is a little too high for a Cy Young. The above-three ERA may be due to Scherzer’s slight tendency to give up the long ball. In his last 10 starts he’s given up eight homeruns. In addition to the homerun total, Scherzer has never pitched a shutout—something that pay also be a point of contention for his Cy Young Resume. However, there is another number that may trump those numbers—opponents are hitting .190 against him. This means their hitters are barely touching him. It is important to keep in mind, according to ESPN.com’s Matt Meyers, that wins can be misleading at times. A pitcher may have a bunch of wins simply because his team decides to put up runs for him every start.
Therefore, it’s the wins along with the BAA (batting average against) ERA, WHIP and strikeouts that are the true display of Scherzer’s dominance. With these stats he’s currently the best pitcher on the Tigers staff—yes, even better than the great Justin Verlander—and is on his way to a well-deserved American League Cy Young.
In less surprising news, Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera is up to his old tricks and completely obliterating pitchers. It seems he isn’t really satisfied with the triple crown and MVP he won last year, so he’s trying to do it again. Cabrera is posting a ridiculous .377 batting average, 24 homeruns, an on-base percentage of .464 and 81 RBIs. The man has 81 RBIs in 78 games. That puts him on pace for more than 162 this season which means an average of an RBI per game.
Currently, Cabrera’s only real competition is Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis who has a .330 batting average, 28 homeruns and 74 RBIs. However, barring an ever stronger performance from Davis, Cabrera is the favorite for MVP—giving the Tigers a sweep of the two major MLB individual awards in the American League,
