Cy Young Award: Webb vs. Dempster

If you just look at W/L records, Brandon Webb edges Ryan Dempster (21-7 vs. 16-6).

However, Dempster edges Webb in ERA (3.02 vs. 3.26).

So who is having the better season? Webb has more wins but Dempster has the better ERA. Their WHIPs are nearly identical.

To find this out, I broke their ERA, WHIP, and K/9 into the 3 categories:

1. Games they won
2. Games they lost
3. Games with a No Decision
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Webb--

Stats in wins:

1.84 ERA 0.96 WHIP 6.8 K/9

Stats in losses:

8.15 ERA 2.12 WHIP 7.9 K/9

Stats in no decisions:

3.12 ERA 1.19 WHIP 6.9 K/9

Dempster--

Wins:

2.24 ERA 1.13 WHIP 8.2 K/9

Losses:

5.73 ERA 1.52 WHIP 9 K/9

No decisions:

3.09 ERA 1.25 WHIP 7.48 K/9
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Both pitchers did very well in games they won and both pitchers did awful in games they lost. I have to say that Webb seems to be more deserving than Dempster. He has 21 wins not because he got run support but because he had a 1.84 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP in those games. Dempster had a higher ERA and WHIP in his wins. You can't argue that the no decisions caused Dempster to have much fewer wins because his ERA and WHIP are higher in no decisions than they are in wins. As for Webb, he pitched well enough in those no decisions that you can't say the offense bailed him out of some extra losses.

It looks like if one of these two players wins the Cy Young Award, it will be Webb. I don't see how it will be awarded to Dempster instead of Webb.