The race for the American league Cy Young Award could come to one head to head matchup between front runners Chien-Ming Wang and Josh Beckett.

Who says pitching is dead? The American League, traditionally known as the hitters' circuit since its introduction of the designated hitter in 1973, had eight pitchers who finished the season with between 17 and 20 games this season. Six hurlers topped 200 strikeouts, and another six finished the year with ERAs under 3.30. That makes for a lot of legitimate Cy Young Award candidates. Here are the top five contenders and each pitcher's case for winning the 2007 American League Cy Young Award.

1. Josh Beckett, Boston Red Sox

Josh Beckett had a tough inaugural season in Boston in 2006. He did win 15 games, but his ERA ballooned to over 5.00 by the end of the season as the Red Sox missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

This season, Beckett started the season on fire, winning his first nine decisions and putting up an ERA of 2.88 by June 8th. While Beckett slumped a bit in the middle of the year, he rebounded nicely in August and September to finish the year as the only 20 game winner in the Major Leagues. He also ended up sixth in ERA (3.27), seventh in strikeouts (194) and fourth in WHIP (1.14).

Those impressive numbers, combined with the Red Sox winning the American League East title for the first time in 13 years, make Beckett the favorite to win the award.

Odds: Even

2. Chien-Ming Wang, New York Yankees

Wang was the one constant on a struggling and oft-injured Yankees pitching staff this year. He also gotten very hot at the right time of the year. On June 1st, Wang was just 4-4 with an ERA of 4.19 at a time when Beckett was 8-0 with an ERA of 2.88.

Over the remainder of the season, Wang was 15-3 while Beckett was 12-7.

With a 19 win season for a the playoff-bound Yankees, Wang still has an outside shot, but most likely, he will finish in the runner-up slot for the second straight year.

Odds: 3-1

3. C.C. Sabathia: (14-7, 3.15, 168 Ks). In a crowded field, Sabathia has begun to stand out, especially in his last three starts, in which he is 3-0 and has given up just three earned runs in 23 innings. That strong performance during a critical stretch of the Indians' season, along with his overall 2007 season performance, give C.C. a very good shot at the crown. But he will need the two pitchers above to stumble in the last few weeks of the season if he is to overtake them.

Current Odds: 4-1

4. Kelvim Escobar, Los Angeles Angels

Escobar has been hot down the strech for one of the best teams in the league. Specifically, he is 5-1 in his last six starts and has been a huge part of the Angels' success in 2007. As of September 11, 2007, Escobar is 16-8 with a 3.04 ERA and 150 strikeouts. He could still leapfrog Wang, Beckett and Sabathia, but he'll probably need to win his last four starts to knock off those guys.

Current Odds: 5-1

5. Danny Haren, Oakland Athletics

Danny Haren has very quietly put together a brilliant season pitching for the Oakland A's. He's got the lowest ERA in the American League, at 3.03. Haren's 14-7 record also gives him one of the top winning percentages (.667) among AL starters. However, in such a tight and crowded field, and with so many other viable contenders who are pitching for playoff contenders, Haren will need to be almost perfect from now until the end of the season to have any shot at winning.

Current odds: 7-1

6. J.J. Putz, Seattle Mariners

If the voters want to go in the direction of a reliever, J.J. Putz is their man. The Seattle closer has been unhittable all season. With 20 games left to play, Putz is 2-1, and has 37 saves in 39 opportunities. He's also got a miscroscopic ERA of 1.43, an historically low WHIP of 0.70, and 69 Ks in just 63 innings. Those are scary numbers.

However, no American League reliever has won a Cy Young award since Dennis Eckersley took home the hardware in 1992. During that drought, the voters passed over Mariano Rivera four times in favor of starting pitchers. (He finished 2nd in 2005, and 3rd in '96, '99 and '04). Furthermore, the Mariners late season swoon has limited Putz's outings and given the closer virtually no save opportunities. That's pretty much killed his chances.

Current Odds: 10-1

7. Erik Bedard, Baltimore Orioles

Bedard is only out of it because he went on the 60-day Disabled List on September 4th with a strained oblique muscle. Prior to suffering the injury, Bedard deserved as good a chance as anybody in the American League to take home the Cy Young trophy. When he went down, Bedard was fifth in winning percentage (.722, with a 13-5 record), fourth in ERA in the American League (3.16), and was tops in the Majors with 221 strikeouts in just 182 innings.

As good as he was, however, if Bedard played for someone other than the shockingly bad Baltimore Orioles, he would have had close to 20 wins.

Consider this. From May 4 through June 15, 2007, Erik Bedard made 10 straight quality starts (at least 6 IP and 3 or less earned runs), during which he struck out 70 batters in 60 innings and posted an ERA of 2.25. Yet during that period of dominance, Bedard's record was just 1-2 with 7 no decisions.

Baltimore gave him a mere 1.9 runs of support per game. Had the Orioles played like a big league club, or even a good AAA squad, Bedard could have had at least 18 or 19 wins. If he had that many victories to go along with his impressive ERA and strikeout numbers, Erik could have been the leader for this year's American League Cy Young Award, even though he will end up missing his last 6 starts.

Current Odds: 20-1

Five other Contenders

John Lackey: (16-8, 3.18 ERA, 152 Ks). Great season, but he's been a little weaker in the second half and his efforts are being overshadowed by teammate Kelvim Escobar down the stretch.

Current Odds: 20-1

Fausto Carmona. (16-8, 3.20, 99 Ks). This is the same kid who went 1-10 last year. For that reason alone, he should win it. Howver, even if he pitches brilliantly down the stretch, Carmona will lose a lot of votes to Sabathia, and that kills his chances.

Current Odds: 20-1

Johan Santana, Minnesota Twins

Johan Santana's 2007 season has been the opposite of Beckett's. He started off relatively slow, and had just a 6-6 record on June 14th.

SInce then, Santana has been very tough, and thus worthy of mention. He's 9-5 with an ERA of 2.99 and has 105 strikeouts in 88 innings. That includes the 17 batters he struck out last night, August 19, against the Texas Rangers.

Currently, Santana is 15-11 and ranks third in the AL in ERA (3.09) and second in strikeouts (213). He also has the lowest WHIP of any American League starting pitcher, at 1.06. But with the Twins fading and Santana losing two of his last three starts, his chances at a third Cy Young title are all but dead.

Current Odds: 40-1

Carl Pavano: (1-0, 4.76 ERA, 4 Ks). He got $10 million for that.

Current Odds: (250,000,000,000,000 to 1)

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