Cleveland Indians: The only competition Shane Beiber currently has for the Cy Young is in the AL Central

The Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber currently has to worry about in-division rival Dallas Keuchel of the White Sox for the 2020 AL CY Young award.

After 40 games for the Cleveland Indians, Shane Bieber is the AL’s No.1 in wins, ERA, innings pitched, quality starts, earned runs given up by pitchers with 40+ innings completed, and strikeouts. He’s either second, third, or fourth in just about every other major pitching stat you can find. Bieber is the obvious, clear favorite for the AL Cy Young Award. It’s his to lose.

While at one point it looked like Lance Lynn of the Texas Rangers was going to be competition, the Rangers tanked hard this season and Lynn has had some good but not great outings since. That’s not a good thing when the top dog is running through lineups like a tank through a cardboard city.

So Lynn’s out of serious contention, but that doesn’t mean Bieber can coax. As the Chicago White Sox have improved this year, so has Dallas Keuchel with his return to AL Cy Young conversation. Keuchel won the 2015 AL Cy Young in one of Corey Kluber’s rare down years during his run with the Tribe and now Keuchel is leading the White Sox back to competition.

Sure, Bieber is still the clear favorite but Keuchel is nipping at the heels of the Tribe’s ace. Bieber has seven wins, Keuchel has six. Bieber’s ERA is 1.25, Keuchel’s is 2.19. Bieber has pitched 57.2 innings, Keuchel has 53.1.

Again, Bieber is clear cut No. 1 in the chase. He’s got at least two bad starts to give to still keep that lead. However, with at least three if not four starts left in the season, Bieber has to make sure he finishes as strong as he started if he wants to run away with the voting. With how dominant and crisp he’s been all year, to not vote Bieber with all the first-place votes possible would be a crime against baseball.

Bieber has to finish strong though, because there is competition, even if it’s a mile back. One stumble or face plant could erase that mile into a few hundred yards. A second? It might be mere paces that separate the two.

Granted in two weeks Bieber could have a new No. 2 to worry about. That’s how whacky this season is.