Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray, Kevin Gausman each vying for first Cy Young Award of career

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Major League Baseball instituted rule changes to the game, like banning the shift, bigger bases and pick-off limits, to increase offense. But that didn't stop three of the game's best pitchers from keeping their titles.

Thirty beat writers, two from each American League city, wrote five names on their ballots, ranked one through five, to decide who the best pitcher was in the AL in 2023. A point system will decide the winner, and there is one heavy favorite.

The top three point-getters are Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray and Kevin Gausman. Here are each of their cases.

Almost nothing went right for the Yankees, but if there was one silver lining, it was their ace.

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Gerrit Cole, Sonny Gray and Kevin Gausman (Getty Images)

The Yankees inked Cole to the largest deal ever given to a pitcher (nine years, $324 million) before the 2020 season, and the Bronx faithful had been rightfully critical of him the last couple of years. He couldn't even get through three innings in the 2021 AL wild-card game (albeit hurt), and he had maybe the most disappointing season of his career in 2022, prompting fans to wonder if he was a product of sticky stuff.

Well, Cole heard the noise and shut everyone up. He led the AL with a 2.63 ERA (second in MLB) and 209 innings (third), and his 0.98 WHIP was the best mark in all of baseball. He also led the majors with two shutouts while his 222 strikeouts were third in the AL and fifth in the majors. He earned his fifth-straight All-Star nod in July (there was no midsummer classic in 2020) and started the game this season; he's previously finished in second twice, fourth