Roy Halladay's career got off to a good start. As a 21-year-old pitcher with the Blue Jays in 1998, he was tall, strong, had a good fastball and knew what he was doing on the mound. In his second career start, he came within an out of throwing a no-hitter. He had a solid rookie season in 1999, and now, five years later at age 26, won his first Cy Young Award.
        But there was a wrinkle in the middle. In 2000, Halladay suffered from a stunning loss of confidence; he posted a 10.64 ERA in 67 innings, one of the worst seasons by any pitcher in baseball history. He was sent back to the lower minors to work things out, and made a successful return in the midsummer of 2001. Next came a 19-win season in 2002, and this year, a Cy Young Award.

        Halladay won the award easily, receiving all but two first place votes. The runner-up was Halladay's teammate from the previous season, 31-year-old journeyman Esteban Loaiza, who won 21 games and had a better ERA and more strikeouts than Halladay. Before this season, Loaiza had only had one winning season in eight years. Better work habits, and a new cut fastball, were often credited as the main reasons for Loaiza's amazing improvement.
        Statistically, there was little to separate Hallday from the other top pitchers in the league. With a month left in the season, Halladay was not the favourite to win the award; he needed a 5-1 record in September to make himself the frontrunner. Halladay led the majors in wins, and also had the best K/BB ratio in baseball.
        This was the first season that the unbalanced schedule played a role in the major award voting. Halladay's supporters pointed out that, while his ERA may have been higher than the other top candidates, he also faced tougher competition. Halladay made six starts against the Boston Red Sox, one of the best offensive teams in recent memory. He also made five starts against the Yankees, who were third in scoring runs. Loaiza, on the other hand, made six starts against the Tigers, one of the worst hitting teams in baseball history.
        Another strong candidate was Oakland's ace right-hander Tim Hudson. The trio of Hudson, Mulder and Zito had another amazing season for the Athletics, leading the team to 96 wins. This year, Hudson was best, though Mulder was also a strong Cy Young candidate before a hip fracture ended his season in August. Hudson was a workhorse and had a better ERA than Halladay — but his bullpen cost him some wins.
        Halladay, Hudson and Loaiza were all closely matched. But one pitcher transcended them all. Pedro Martinez had another rough season with injuries, making a trip to the disabled list in May and missing several starts. But when he was on the mound, he was vintage Pedro — the best pitcher in the league, by a long shot. Martinez faced almost the exact same schedule that Halladay did — except that instead of facing the Red Sox, he had to face the Blue Jays, the second-best scoring team in the league.
        The main advantages that Halladay had over Martinez were eight wins and almost 80 innings pitched, and those are significant. But consider: to put up the same numbers as Halladay, Martinez would have to have made seven starts, thrown 79.3 innings, given up 106 hits, 19 home runs and 50 earned runs, giving him a 5.67 ERA over those extra innings.
        Martinez only won 14 games, but that had more to do with bad luck and a bad bullpen than anything else. Martinez won 23 games in 1999 with the same number of starts and almost the exact same ERA. At the time, some people placed his 1999 season among the greatest ever — and the differences between that year and this one were not large.
        Pedro Martinez was the toughest pitcher in the league to score against, or hit against, or reach base against. He was the best strikeout pitcher in the league. The best pitcher in the league was, again, in top form.