Cy Greinke!

Just as I had predicted, and deservedly so.

Royals pitcher Zack Greinke garnered 25 of 28 first place votes en route to the A.L. Cy Young Award today. Greinke finished the season with just 16 wins, but he had an astoundingly impressive 2.16 ERA. He also racked up 242 strikeouts and finished with a K/BB ratio of almost 5.00, and a K/9 IP of 9.50.

There's been some discussion that the Yankees' C.C. Sabathia should have won because he posted more wins (19), a pretty solid 3.37 ERA, and 197 strikeouts while pitching in the league's toughest division on a team that won 103 games. Seattle's Felix Hernandez and Detroit's Justin Verlander also had 19 wins each, but none could match Greinke's impressive ERA. Hernandez's 2.49 ERA was second to Greinke.

My argument against Sabathia is he didn't have to face the league's toughest lineup: his own. And while his 3.37 ERA is pretty darn good, and Greinke never did face the Yankees once this season, Greinke's 2.16 ERA is still that much more impressive.

And keep this in mind, as well. Greinke came within two outs in his last start of the season from finishing with an ERA below 2.00.

Hernandez finished a distant second in the voting, with Verlander, Sabathia and Toronto's Roy Halladay rounding out the voting.

The N.L. Cy Young Award winner will be announced Thursday.