Mariners' Bryan Woo will need a miracle to overcome 2 obstacles in AL Cy Young race

Bryan Woo hasn't disappointed in his first full season in the Seattle Mariners rotation. With more than 175 innings under his belt, he has been one of the few bright spots in Seattle's starting pitching picture, and his 3.02 ERA and 124 ERA+ are up there with the best.

Unfortunately, it just so happens that he's not the only one having a dominant season on the mound. Of American League pitchers with more than 170 innings of work this year, Woo is tied with Max Fried for the third-lowest ERA behind two players who came into the year as Cy Young favorites.

In order to win the AL Cy Young, Bryan Woo will have to somehow surpass Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet

After finally joining a contending team via last winter's trade to the Boston Red Sox, Garrett Crochet has been as advertised, if not better.

He leads all of baseball in innings pitched (185.1) and strikeouts (228). Every one of his Statcast peripherals are near or above the top quartile of qualified pitchers and his sweeper is the most effective in MLB this year by run value (15). He has the second-best betting odds to take home the American League hardware this year but hasn't been infallible.

He posted a 2.23 ERA prior to August 1st and has pitched to a 3.68 ERA since, accented by a brutal outing against the Guardians that saw him concede seven earned runs in six innings.

Even more outstanding has been Tarik Skubal, who leads all of MLB in FIP (2.29), WHIP (0.86), BB/9 (1.4), and K/BB (7.93). He has already eclipsed the 6.4 rWAR he posted last year when he was voted as the clear winner of the AL Cy Young and seems unbothered by his 180 inning workload this season.

All but one of his outings have been quality starts since the All-Star break. His changeup is the most valuable pitch in all of baseball by run value (25) and has a whiff rate of 47.4 percent.

So how does Bryan Woo build a case as a Cy Young contender with no black ink and two titans ahead of him?

The truth is that without a miracle or two, Woo probably won't be a serious candidate to win. Even without Skubal and Crochet, Max Fried and Hunter Brown arguably have more compelling cases. However, getting a significant number of votes would still be an important feather in his cap. If he managed to be the runner-up for the award, he'd be the first Mariner to do so since Félix Hernández in 2014.

Furthermore, Woo does have some things going for him. First, his walk rate of 4.9 sits between Crochet's (5.7) and Skubal's (4.1). Second, he has the greatest fastball run value (28) of any pitcher, split between his four-seam fastball (20) and his sinker (8).

Third, and perhaps most important, is that he's young and still has plenty of time left to collect trophies. For now, his main focus has been doing what he needs to give the Mariners the best chance to win. He had a historic run of consistency this year and as the Wild Card race continues to heat up, he may end up being the difference-maker if Seattle makes the division or even wins the division.

It's easy to obsess over individual awards and accolades but ultimately, the best players are the ones that help their team win. This season, Bryan Woo has done that just as well as anyone else and will likely continue to be a dependable beacon of hope from now until the very end of the year. He may not take home the award this time, but you can count on him being in the conversation for the foreseeable future.