Zach Britton could walk away with Cy Young Award

Pitcher Zach Britton is focused on helping the Orioles win the American League East, but as he does, he's making a strong case to be the 10th closer to win a Cy Young Award.

The last closer to win the award was Eric Gagne of the 2003 Los Angeles Dodgers. The last American League closer to do it was Oakland's Dennis Eckersley, who had 51 saves and a 1.91 ERA for the AL West champion Athletics in 1992.

Britton, 28, has more dominating numbers than Eckersley, now a Hall of Famer. The last time Britton allowed an earned run was April. Going into the weekend, he was 37-for-37 in saves with a 0.82 WHIP and a 0.54 ERA.

His WHIP is under one and he's giving up about a half-run every nine innings.

Starters usually win, but in years where there are no slam-dunk candidates, closers can walk away with the hardware.

And this could be one of those seasons.

Consider that the league's three strikeout leaders going into the week - Chris Archer of Tampa Bay, Justin Verlander of Detroit and Boston's David Price - each have uncharacteristically high ERAs.

Archer has 186 strikeouts and a 4.18 ERA. Verlander is at 176 and 3.44 and an inconsistent Price is at 171 and 4.19.

The field for AL Cy Young Award is wide open and one of Britton's possible competitors is Orioles starter Chris Tillman, who has a chance to be the team's first 20-game winner since Mike Boddicker in 1984.

The Orioles have won six AL Cy Young Awards, three by Jim Palmer and one each by Mike Cuellar, Mike Flanagan and Steve Stone, who was the last Oriole to win in 1980.

But the only time the Orioles have had two pitchers in the top five was 1969, when Cuellar won and Dave McNally finished fourth.

A few notes on the competition:

Going into the weekend, Kansas City's Danny Duffy had a 2.73 ERA, lowest in the league, but only 132 innings pitched.

The Toronto Blue Jays' J.A. Happ is 17-3 with a 2.05 ERA. Texas' Cole Hamels is 12-4 with a 2.88 ERA and Boston's Steven Wright, now on the disabled list, is 13-5 with a 3.01 ERA.

Cleveland's Corey Kluber could make a push at a second award. He's 13-8 with a 3.15 ERA.

Tillman, 28, has been a workhorse in the Orioles' rotation. He had a tough June, but his importance is marked by his 8-1 record and 2.75 ERA after an Orioles loss.

As the season concludes, Tillman will take aim at 20 victories, no doubt getting ninth-inning help from the save-machine Britton.

That could be a puzzling predicament for baseball writers trying to pick the AL Cy Young Award winner.