Clayton Kershaw is 11-2 with a 1.79 ERA, a 1.66 FIP, 145 strikeouts and nine walks in 121 innings, a WHIP of 0.727 and three shutouts.By FanGraphs measure of wins above replacement, Kershaw has been the best pitcher in the major leagues this year, with a lead of 0.6 WAR over the next-closest hurler, Noah Syndergaard.MORE: Theres only one thing standing between Kershaw and the fourth Cy Young Award of his career, andthat's a back injury that has kept him from pitching since June 26. On the 60-day disabled list, Kershaw cannot return for another week, and is not expected to do so until September.Kershaw might wind up making only 20 or 21 starts this year. He needs to work another 41 innings to qualify for the leaderboards in stats such as ERA, FIP, WHIP, hits per nine innings, walks per nine innings and strikeout-to-walk-ratio all of which he leads the major leagues in. Likely to fall short of that standard, it will be hard to justify Kershaw getting the Cy Young. Great as he is, the National League has several excellent pitchers putting in full seasons.Kershaw will deserve downballot votes, maybe even second-place votes that recognize his excellence while acknowledging he has not pitched Jonas Griffith Jersey enough this season.But whos No. 1? The contenders have eight or nine starts left. Not to give short shrift to closers Jeurys Familia, Kenley Jansen and Mark Melancon, all having excellent seasons, but a closer hasnt won since Eric Kenny Young Jersey Gagne in 2003 and nobody is at that level of all-out dominance in todays game.MORE: Here are the contenders, in alphabetical order because the race is in that kind of shape, like the lead pack in the 10,000-meter race at the Olympics, right before its time to make the moves that decide the race.Jake Arrieta, Cubs: Remember the guy who won last years Cy Young? He hasnt been quite as dominant, with an ERA of 2.55, but he's second in the National League in wins and still has more strikeouts (149) than innings pitched (148). Knowing what he can do when hes hot, and having seen it in last years stretch run, building on what hes done over the first four-and-a-half months to win a second straight Cy is hardly out of the question. Arrieta also has the majors only no-hitter this season.Madison Bumgarner, Giants:Boasting the lowest ERA of his career at 2.11, which would lead the league if not for Kershaw, the San Francisco southpaw is tied for the league lead with four complete games and is third in strikeouts. If youre taking Kershaw out of the question, hes the easiest answer for the old question of who youd have pitch if you had one game that decided everything.Johnny Cueto, Giants: More than living up to his contract, Cueto started the All-Star Game Sam Martin Jersey for the National Leagueand is fourth in WAR among National League pitchers by FanGraphs measure. Hes also on the same team as Bumgarner, who is 0.1 WAR behind him and has the edge in pretty much every category but FIP.Jacob deGrom, Mets: The 2014 National League Rookie of the Year dropped his ERA from 2.69 that year to 2.54 in 2015, and on to 2.30 this year, including his first career shutout. The strikeout rate, though, has dropped to below one per inning, if barely, while deGroms FIP has risen to 3.00. Hes also 7-5, which, much as W-L has declined in prominence, makes it a lot harder to get noticed in a conversation like this.Jose Fernandez, Marlins: At 2.81, the ERA is a tad high, but the league-leading strikeout rate results in Fernandez having the Senior Circuits best non-Kershaw xFIP. The easiest choice if youre into the Cy Young as something of a pitcher MVP award, as nobody is more indispensable to his teams rotation than the 24-year-old Cuban note that all but one other pitcheron this list has a teammate on this list.MORE: Kyle Hendricks, Cubs: The owner of the best earned run average in the National League for a right-hander is a 26-year-old from Dartmouth who was expected to, at best, be the No. 4 starter for Chicago this year. Is it any wonder the Cubs have been as good as they have when a back-end rotation member becomes a Cy Young contender? At 8.0 strikeouts per nine innings, Hendricks is a tick below the elite power arms, but you cant argue with a 1.007 WHIP the man gets outs.Max Scherzer, Nationals: The league leader in strikeouts, and the one man to edge ahead of Kershaw by Baseball References measurement of WAR, Scherzer would have the WHIP lead if not for the Los Angeles ace. Two things are going against Scherzer in the Cy Young race Garett Bolles Jersey . One is flirting with the league lead for home runs allowed Brandon Finnegan gave up two on Monday night to snap their tie and the other isStephen Strasburg, Nationals: Being the league leader in wins isnt what it used to be, but being sixth in Baseball References calculation of WAR and seventh in FanGraphs is pretty good, too. Only Fernandez and Scherzer have higher strikeout rates than the former No. 1 overall pick, while only Kershaw, Syndergaard and Fernandez are better from a FIP standpoint.Noah Syndergaard, Mets: The fact that Syndergaard is 9-7 speaks to exactly why pitcher wins arent valued the way they used to be. This is a right-hander with 10.92 strikeouts per nine innings and only 1.88 walks. Were it not for Kershaws ludicrous 16.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio, Syndergaards 5.82 would be the best in the National League. Brett Jones Jersey Hes sixth in ERA.Julio Teheran, Braves: A bright spot in a season that's all about pushing the clock forward, Teheran trails only Kershaw and Scherzer in WHIP, and is seventh in ERA. But, you know, there's win-lo s record having le s prominence in baseball today, and there's a guy with three wins in the middle of August, even if his team is a disaster. It's not a mark against Teheran, really, but it would be a lot easier to make his case acro s the board if you could tell some old-school voters that he was the second coming of Steve Carlton.