Zach Greinke Wins 2009 AL Cy Young In Landslide

A certain level of sanity was restored to baseball today when the BBWAA voted Royals pitcher Zack Greinke the 2009 American League Cy Young Award winner. This hopefully means that voters (finally) are placing less emphasis on wins (Greinke had just 16 this season), and instead focusing more on stats like strikeouts, K/9, ERA, ERA+ and WHIP -- Greinke was top-three in all of those categories. In fact, his 2.16 ERA was tops for all of baseball.

Certainly, there was no argument that Greinke was one of the most dominating pitchers of 2009 in either league. His performance and his award brightens what was a disappointing season for the Royals.

"Zack Greinke has always been a potentially tremendous talent and we were all fortunate to watch him perform this past year," Royals general manager Dayton Moore said. "He was everything that he and all of us expected him someday to be."

Greinke won in what the BBWAA called a "landslide," getting 25 first-place votes. The Mariners' Felix Hernandez, who finished second, received just two first-place votes. The final results: 1. Greinke, 2. Hernandez, 3. Justin Verlander, 4. CC Sabathia, 5. Roy Halladay). 

If you happen to be a Royals fan looking to get in on the celebration, head over to SB Nation's Royals Review.