Every year, the best pitcher in each league is awarded the Cy Young Award. In the American League, this year's finalists are Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays, Justin Verlander of the Houston Astros, and Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians. Below I post why each of the three finalists should win the award. These are my opinions on each pitcher, sharing my thoughts on why I think each pitcher has become a finalist this year.

Blake Snell

In just his third season in the big leagues, Blake Snell finds himself among the American League Cy Young Award finalists.

Snell had a spectacular season on the small market Rays, as he went 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA. Over 180 2/3 innings, he struck out 221 batters and only gave up 112 hits. He did well at limiting the long ball, as he only gave up 16 home runs and he had a ridiculous opponent average of .178. Among every qualified starting pitcher in the major leagues, he had the second-best ERA, only coming behind NL Cy Young finalist Jacob deGrom. Snell also had the most wins of any pitcher in the major leagues.

Among the American League Cy Young finalists, Snell had the best record, lowest ERA, and the least amount of home runs and hits given up.

Justin Verlander

Verlander is aiming for his second Cy Young Award, which he last won it in 2011, where he also won the AL MVP Award.

In 2016, Verlander was runner-up for the award, which he lost to Rick Porcello, despite getting the most first-place votes. In 2018, he went 16-9 with a 2.52 ERA In his 14th season in the major leagues. Verlander struck out a career-high 290 batters and 2018 saw him have the best accuracy of his career as he walked a career-low 37 batters.

What makes this even more amazing is the fact that he did this in his age-35-season, where most pitchers, as they get older, start to decline. He limited opposing batters to hit .200 off him. In the American League, Verlander recorded the most strikeouts.

Corey Kluber

Kluber, the ace of the Indians who won the AL Central this season, will be looking to make it his second straight Cy Young Award win, as he beat Chris Sale and Luis Severino to win the award last season.

For the first time in his career, Kluber won 20 games, as he went 20-7 with a 2.89 ERA. In 215 innings pitched, he struck out 222 batters and only walked 34 batters. He threw the most innings out of any pitcher in the American League.

Compared to Snell and Verlander, Kluber threw the most innings and walked the least amount of batters. The winner of the American League Cy Young Award will be announced on November 14 at 6 PM ET.