There is some significant movement among the pitchers who are likely to be considered for the Cy Young Award at the end of the baseball season. From the start of the year until this point, Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees has bee the favorite to win the honor, but that is no longer the case. Cole has been bypassed by Shane McClanahan of the front-running Tampa Bay Rays.

The Rays have been baseball's best team since the start of the year, and McClanahan has been their best pitcher. McClanahan, now in his 3rd season in the big leagues, has simply been dominant. He has an 8-0 record along with a 1.97 earned run average and he has registered 75 strikeouts in 64.0 innings. He also has a 3-1 strikeout to walk ratio, as he has allowed just 25 walks to this point in the season.

As a result of the lefthander's consistency and dominance, he is now the +360 favorite to earn the American League's Cy Young Award. Cole rates as the No. 2 choice at +450,  while the sensational Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels is the 3rd choice at +700. Other pitchers who are in contention at this point include Joe Ryan (+1200) of the Minnesota Twins, Kevin Gausman (+1300) of the Toronto Blue Jays and Luis Castillo (+1600) of the Seattle Mariners.

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Cole has also performed well, but he has not been as consistent as McClanahan. He has a 5-0 record in his 11 starts and has a 2.53 ERA with 70 strikeouts in 67.2 innings. Cole has a complete game and a shutout to his credit, but the Yankees have lost 2 of his last 4 decisions.

The award appears to be Shane McClanahan's to lose at this point.