2008 American League Cy Young Award: Cliff Lee or Francisco Rodriguez?

 
As of August 20, 2008, ESPN's Cy Young Predictor has another Cleveland Indian pitcher at the top of the list, this time southpaw Cliff Lee.

Proving that candidates don't necessarily have to be on winning teams - the Indians are in fourth in the AL Central - Lee currently sits with a 18-2 record and a 2.43 earned run average.

Lee is not only ESPN's favorite (so far) for the AL Cy Young; he tops the list at SPORTSBETTING.COM too, at -200. Lee has received 37% of all the volume wagered on the Cy Young award in the AL.

Since the start of the season, the Cleveland Indians have now gone 19-6 overall whenever Lee gets the start after today's win.

Prospective Cy Young winners needn't always be starting pitchers, just ask Dennis Eckersley.

The L.A. Angels' Francisco Rodriguez is high on both ESPN and at the books, ranking second and listed at Even money (+100) respectively.

Coming out of the bullpen, Rodriguez has struck out 57 batters and saved an AL and MLB best 48 games - oh and the Angels are the best team in the AL West, AL and MLB in general.

They're also 77-48 on the Money line so far this season.

The MLB playoff picture is slowly beginning to take shape, although how it ends up is far from clear.

It is possible, however that both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox could both miss the postseason; the Yanks and BoSox are listed at +350 and +100 to take the AL Wild Card respectively.

Boston currently sits 4.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays for the AL East lead and would be the AL Wild Card team if the season ended today but the season doesn't end today and the Minnesota Twins are coming on strong.

A game behind the AL Central leading Chicago White Sox and a mere half game behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card race, the Twinkies have gone 10-3 in the last 13 games and Joe Nathan has been responsible for some of that.

In the same boat as the Angels' Rodriguez, Nathan comes on in relief and has earned 34 saves, 59 strikeouts and a 1.00 ERA.

Nathan is a bit of long shot for the AL Cy Young however, as he's listed at +1500.

National League

At one point of MLB's regular season, the leader of the NL West division was below .500 but that was then and now the Arizona Diamondbacks are the leaders with a 66-60 mark - Arizona is listed at -120 to take the NL West.

Starting pitcher Brandon Webb has been a large part of the D-backs' success with an MLB best 18 wins.

Webb sits atop of ESPN's NL Cy Young predictor and is listed as the odds-on favorite to take the NL pitching accolade at -500.

The Chicago Cubs look like they're seriously making a push to end a century long World Series drought (+300 at SPORTSBETTING.COM), currently the top team in the NL Central.

The Cubs' rotation is a large part of their success and starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, who is 14-5 with a 2.92 ERA, is one of the Cubbies' best pitchers and an option on the Cy Young menu at +700.

You might also want to wager on the "Field" option (paying out at +600) for the NL Cy Young prop as pitchers like CC Sabathia, who won last year with the AL's Indians, is part of that group. Sabathia has been unstoppable since being acquired by the Brewers in a trade, going 8-0 with his new team.

The Brew Crew are in the NL Central and Wild Card race, 5-games behind the Cubs for the divisional lead and in top spot in the Wild Card.

The end of season is within sight and there will be some interesting playoff races as teams sprint for the finish.

Have a good weekend.

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