I'm shocked... It's a good thing these votes were taken place before the playoffs, otherwise this would have been a no brainer for Beckett.
The 27-year-old Sabathia was rewarded for a regular season that saw him go 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA in 34 starts. The win total, ERA mark and number of starts were all career bests for Sabathia, as were his strikeout total of 209 and his innings total of 241, which led the Majors.From here.
Sabathia, who twice faced Beckett head-to-head in the AL Championship Series and lost each time, bested Beckett in the Cy Young voting in large part because of that innings mark.
Though Beckett certainly had award-worthy credentials with a 20-7 record and 3.27 ERA in 30 starts for the AL East champion Red Sox, he was 40 1/3 innings shy of Sabathia's tally.
I'm not saying that Sabathia didn't deserve the award. His stats show he deserved the award, I'm just surprised that the voters gave it to Sabathia.
After the regular season, Sabathia couldn't hold Beckett's jock. In the LCS, Beckett went 2-0 with a 1.93 allowing only 3 runs with an 18-1 K/BB ratio, while Sabathia went 0-2 with a 10.45 ERA. In the World Series Beckett went 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA, striking out 9 through 7 innings. Sabathia sat at home and watched on the TV.