Happy Greinke Day, last one of the year, and please, on behalf of the voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, trust our process.
Regular readers here know that I love Kansas City, with the people and the food and the convenience and everything else, but sometimes get frustrated at the inferiority complex that often permeates the area.
I've counted. In the last few days, 16 of you have e-mailed or Tweeted asking if I really think Zack Greinke will win the AL Cy Young Award -- to be announced early this afternoon.
My stock answer: I'd be shocked if he doesn't win, and surprised if it's not a blowout. Twenty-five or more of the 28 first-place votes is not out of the question.
This is no gutsy stance on my part, of course. A guy with 242 strikeouts and 51 walks in 229 1/3 innings, who leads the league by more than a third of a run with a 2.16 ERA, a mark that's the best in the league since Pedro Martinez in 2000, well, that guy should win.
This is not close, despite a spectacular season from Felix Hernandez that might've won most of the last eight Cy Youngs.
And everyone here would see it that way, if not for the stitching on the front of Greinke's jersey that says "Royals."
Jose Lima's arm and Tony Pena Jr.'s bat and Mike Sweeney's back and Jose Guillen's contract have made it easy to believe nothing good comes from the Royals, but Greinke is throwing that thinking on its head.
Now, there is some bias at work here on my part. Not necessarily for Greinke, though it will be cool to hear what he says and see his remarkable story told once again on a national level.
But, no. My bias here is for my fellow ballwriters, the BBWAA, who've taken plenty of grief over the years and this past season -- often deserved.
It's my hope that Greinke's selection holds some symbolism, that we've moved from beyond robots tied to the pitcher with the most wins, proof that our analysis of baseball goes deeper than writing about the scrappiest player or highest batting average or whatever is your favorite stereotype.
Joe Mauer will probably win the MVP award without big counting stats. He'd be the second straight AL MVP without 100 RBIs, and the first MVP in either league without 100 runs or RBIs since Barry Larkin in the strike-shortened 1995 season. In some ways, maybe this can be the beginning of writers and statheads meeting halfway. That'd be cool, if so. The shots from each side get very old.
Truth be told, both groups could do a better job embracing the ideas from the other side.
Anyway, I'm babbling.
The point here is that, depending on what awards you look at, Zack Greinke is about to become the first Kansas City athlete to win a major award since David Cone's Cy Young in 1994.
Enjoy it.