Nathan Eovaldi has officially made the AL Cy Young a two-man race

And then there were two. As we approach September, the race for the American League Cy Young Award has been whittled down to just two possible winners.

With yet another masterful performance against the Cleveland Guardians on Friday night, Nathan Eovaldi has joined reigning Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal as the two realistic contenders for the prestigious prize.

Eovaldi keeps coming up clutch in spite of the shoddy bullpen

Evo just keeps baffling opposing hitters with his extraordinary command of four pitches. On Friday, he got through seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits while walking none and striking out nine (all on swinging third strikes).

As frustrating as it is to see the Ranger bullpen continue to blow his sparkling starts in the second half of the season, Eovaldi takes the hill every five days and mows down whoever is in front of him.

His numbers have gotten to the point where he has to be considered a frontrunner for the Cy Young.

There is only one thing that can keep Eovaldi from winning the AL Cy Young

Statistically, Evo has been superior to Skubal in several important pitching metrics. He has a better ERA at 1.76 to 2.32, better WHIP at 0.85 to 0.87, and they have identical 11-3 records. Skubal has a slightly better K/9 ratio at 11.3 to 8.9.

The only thing that voters might hold against the Rangers' right-hander is his lack of total innings pitched. With only five or six starts left on the docket, Evo is on the cusp of having enough innings pitched to qualify.

To qualify for the Cy Young, a pitcher must have completed one inning per game played. This means that Nathan will need to pitch at least 162 innings to hit the threshold. Barring any setbacks from injury or in his stellar performance, Eovaldi will need to average just over six innings in his final five starts or five if he gets a seventh start.

Skubal has the advantage of pitching for a better, playoff-bound team in Detroit, but if Eovaldi can finish strong, voters will be hard-pressed to overlook his dominance this season.