Cy Young

Can you feel that?

After months of waiting through the cold winter months and listening to nothing but trade rumors and free agent signings, the regular season is finally upon us. With some of today's greatest starting pitchers taking the mound for the first game of their respective team's season on Opening Day, you hear some impressive stats surrounding some of these guys.

Roy Halladay, for example, is set to make his 11th consecutive Opening Day start. The guy is more than arguably the game's best pitcher—he's also a workhorse.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series in which I will analyze a current Cy Young Predictor formula.  I offer a replacement formula to account for the change in philosophy for the Cy Young voters with the growing influence of new-age statistics (sabermetrics) and use this new formula to project the Cy Young race in 2011 and beyond.

The remaining regular season schedule is set up to allow Phillies right hander Roy Halladay at least two more starts before the Phils  begin their post season push; however , its more than likely  that tonights start against Washington will be Roy’s last before the play-offs. 

Can we really look through the historical legacy of Major League Baseball and say that out of all of the great arms that have stymied hitters for the past century that Cy Young was the greatest of them all? I, personally, don't think so. That is completely up to debate, as is almost all things baseball, and especially the Cy Young award and how it has evolved into the most prestigious pitching award given away in the Major Leagues.

In light of Roy Halladay's recent perfect game, I decided it would be interesting to rank the top five pitchers of all time. The catch: they must have breathed in the rarified air of the perfect game.

So Nolan Ryan out...uh, Dallas Braden in?

There have only been 20 perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball. This does limit my options for these rankings somewhat, but also should be an indication of how incredibly difficult it is to throw nine innings of perfection.

By definition, it is impossible to compare perfect items.

To pick four players from the history of baseball is what impossible looks like.

To even start, you would have to define the list. In baseball, the difference between position players and pitchers is enormous.

When Curt Schilling started Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS and beat the Yankees, was their a better baseball player than him on that day?

Probably not but that does not mean I am going to carve his face into a mountain.

Babe Ruth might be the greatest baseball player ever but he played in a different era.

Much has been made of the 2010 Red Sox and their defensive prowess, or potential.

JD Drew, Mike Cameron, and Jacoby Ellsbury comprise a formidable outfield.

Jason Varitek, Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, and Adrian Beltre are all Gold Glove Award winners.

But how do these players match up, position-by-position, with the greatest Red Sox defenders of all time?

The Cleveland Indians are going into the day winless. They are one of two teams that are—the other team is the Washington Nationals. The Indians came into the season as favored to win the Central Division with Cy Young winner Cliff Lee leading the team in pitching.

The Indians made a few key offseason signings also, including solid pitcher Carl Pavano, who was less than impressive in his first start—only going one inning and allowing nine earned runs.

I usually try to stay away from these kinds of articles but, after reading several "Greatest Team Ever" or "Best Team Ever" articles, I decided to write my own. Now, I know this I have only been around for 19 years on God's good green Earth so I do have a bit of bias towards today's players. But, all biases will be put aside and I will judge players based on career and other information.