1910 Cy Young Awards

1910 American League - Walter Johnson, Washington Senators

25-17, 1.36 ERA, 313 K

This one was a toss up between Johnson and Philadelphia's Pat Coombs.  Either one would have deserved to have won the award, but In the end I gave it to Johnson.  Both had very similar ERAs, with Coombs finishing second at 1.30, and Johnson third at 1.36.  However, when looking at their ERA+, it is actually reversed, with Johnson at 183.  Coombs also had a better record (31-9), but he was backed up by the league's best lineup, while Johnson's Senators finished third to last in batting average.  Johnson also led the league by a substantial margin in strikeouts (the first of twelve times that he would do so in his career), and finished ahead of Coombs in WHIP (0.914), starts (42), complete games (38) and innings pitched (370).  It was the first of many great seasons for Johnson, and the first time in four years that he actually finished the season with a winning record; the previous year he had been 13-25 despite a respectable 2.22 ERA.

1910 National League - Christy Mathewson, New York Giants

27-9, 1.89 ERA, 184 K

For the second year in a row, Christy Mathewson and Mordecai Brown were the top two pitchers in the NL, but once again I have to give the edge to Mathewson, who became the best pitcher in the league for the third consecutive year and the fifth time in his career.  It wasn't quite as good of a season as his previous ones were, but it was still enough to be the best; he led the league in wins, finished third in ERA, second in WHIP (1.106), second in ERA+ (157), and first in WAR (7.2, a win higher than anyone else).  Brown also had a good season; he finished ahead of Mathewson in ERA, although Mathewson's ERA+ was ahead of his, and Brown pitched fewer innings.