I will go through the top 6 contenders' cases plus defending champ Tim Lincecum.
| Roy Halladay | Adam Wainwright | Josh Johnson | Ubaldo Jimenez | Tim Hudson | Mat Latos | Tim Lincecum | |
| Wins | 18 (1) | 18 (1) | 11 (7) | 18 (1) | 15 (4) | 14 (5) | 14 (5) |
| Quality Starts | 22 (4) | 23 (1) | 23 (1) | 23 (1) | 23 (1) | 20 (5) | 20 (5) |
| Strikeouts | 201 (2) | 199 (3) | 186 (4) | 186 (4) | 122 (7) | 174 (6) | 208 (1) |
| ERA | 2.44 (3) | 2.50 (4) | 2.30 (1) | 2.75 (6) | 2.62 (5) | 2.43 (2) | 3.60 (7) |
| WHIP | 1.05 (2) | 1.05 (2) | 1.11 (4) | 1.15 (4) | 1.13 (6) | 0.99 (1) | 1.30 (7) |
| WAR | 6.2 (1) | 5.8 (3) | 6.2 (1) | 5.7 (4) | 3.2 (7) | 3.6 (6) | 4.5 (5) |
| FIP | 3.03 (4) | 2.87 (2) | 2.43 (1) | 3.03 (4) | 3.81 (7) | 3.02 (3) | 3.25 (6) |
| K/BB | 7.18 (1) | 3.83 (5) | 3.88 (3) | 2.35 (7) | 5.41 (2) | 3.87 (4) | 2.97 (6) |
| AVG Rank | 2.25 | 2.625 | 2.75 | 3.875 | 4.875 | 4 | 5.25 |
After looking at everything it is pretty clear that Roy Halladay has had the best season and is the deserving choice for the Cy Young award. This is still a very close race but with Josh Johnson done for the season it really comes down to Halladay and Wainwright.
The other guys just had too many things that brought them down. Latos has good numbers but not enough innings to keep pace with the leaders. Hudson has had a good season but falls behind in the strikeout category which is very sexy and gets voters attention. Jimenez has been a win machine but his second half is no where near as good as his first half which will certainly cost him. Lincecum had a 2 month period where he wasn't good and a 1 month period that he was down right awful if you take that away he is much better but a 3-peat isn't happening this season.
The pitcher that closes it out best in the last 2-3 starts is the one that wins the award.
