MLB

• Greinke heads the list of AL Cy Young Award candidates

  
  

  (Sports Network) - The Baseball Writers' Association of America will continue to dole out their postseason awards on Tuesday, as the American League's Cy Young Award winner will be announced.

  Kansas City right-hander Zack Greinke figures to be the front-runner, but Seattle's Felix Hernandez and New York's CC Sabathia should also garner some attention from the voters.

  Greinke was the silver lining in otherwise another disappointing season for the Kansas City Royals, going 16-8 with a 2.16 earned run average for a Kansas City team that lost 97 games on the year. He also led the majors in ERA and finished third with 242 strikeouts.

  Ironically, the only other starter to win an AL Cy Young with less than 18 victories was another Kansas City hurler, David Cone, who was 16-5 in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign.

  Greinke's six complete games and three shutouts were second in the majors behind Toronto righty Roy Halladay, who should also get some votes. Greinke allowed three runs or fewer in eight of his nine no-decisions, giving up one or less in four of those outings, and surrendered just one run in two of his losses.

  In fact, in his eight losses, the Royals mustered just 15 runs.

  Should Greinke win the award he will join Brett Saberhagen (1985, 1989) and Cone as the only Royals to win it. He would also become the first AL pitcher to win the award while playing on a last-place team since Roger Clemens won it with Toronto in 1997.

  Hernandez, meanwhile, enjoyed the best season of his young career, as he tied for the league lead in wins with Sabathia, going 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA, while striking out 217 in 238 2/3 innings - all personal bests.

  The 23-year-old, who would become the first Mariner to win this award since Randy Johnson in 1995, allowed two runs or less in 23 of his 34 starts and finished the season strong, winning his last seven and eight of his final nine decisions.

  Sabathia's first year with the World Series champion Yankees could not have gone better, as he went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA, while going undefeated in 11 starts (8-0) through August and September.

  Sabathia, of course, won this award in 2007 while with the Cleveland Indians.

  11/17 00:50:37 ET