Sandy Alcántara ranks as the favorite to win the Cy Young

The superb campaign of the Dominican Sandy Alcántara is expected to be well rewarded when it is up to the Major Leagues to distinguish the two best pitchers this year.

The third date of the Major League Baseball awards arrives and the native of San Juan is emerging as the favorite among the three National League finalists to seize it.

The 27-year-old right-hander will seek to erase 17 years in which no Dominican pitcher has won the precious award, Bartolo Colón being the last to achieve it and only Pedro Martínez (1997; 1999 and 2000) have won them among the quisqueyanos.

But, he also could become the first pitcher in Marlins history to get it. Only three other pitchers from this club have been finalists, José Fernández (2013), Dontrelle Willis (05) and Kevin Brown (1996).

And what kind of presentations did Alcántara exhibit during the campaign, which can make him worthy of the award. He finished with a 14-9 record and a 2.28 ERA, the second lowest in the old circuit, behind only Julio Urias’ 2.16 He had 24 quality starts.

His rivals will be Julio Urias, of the Dodgers, who had a 17-7 record and a 2.16 ERA, being a very consistent pitcher during the contest.

While Max Fried, of the Braves, finished with records of 14-7 and a 2.48 earned run average.

In the American the main candidates will be Dylan Cease, from Chicago, Justin Verlander, from the Astros and Alek Manoah, from Toronto.