It will take a herculean individual effort over the final eight weeks of the regular season. At least two pitchers in front of him have to falter. And it will require the Seattle Mariners to play better over the final 50 games than they have all year.
But Felix Hernandez can still win the American League Cy Young award.
That was evident Sunday afternoon at Safeco Field, when Hernandez, despite a choppy start, allowed two runs over seven innings against the Texas Rangers on a day the battered bullpen needed a pick-me-up. The Mariners won 4-2, and Hernandez earned his American League-leading 14th win, which also tied him with the Pirates’ Gerrit Cole for tops in Major League Baseball.