When Nationals’ starter Max Scherzer was placed on the injured list in late July he had a 2.41 ERA and looked to be one of the favorites for the 2019 NL Cy Young award.

The right-hander came off the IL on August 22, and in six starts since he has a 4.50 ERA with only 32 innings pitched. Scherzer’s struggles continued on Wednesday night when he allowed six runs in 6 2/3 innings to the Cardinals.

Scherzer’s ERA is up to 2.81 for the season, that ranks fifth among NL starters.

Scherzer, winner of three Cy Young awards, is certainly still going to be one of the top vote-getters but his rough finish to the season has opened the doors for the likes of Sonny Gray, Jacob deGrom, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Walker Buehler.

DeGrom, the NL’s 2018 winner, has dominated in the second half with a 1.69 ERA, 3.1 fWAR, and 2.29 FIP. The Mets right-hander leads the NL with 6.3 bWAR compared to 6.0 from Scherzer, 5.9 from Patrick Corbin, and 5.7 from both Sonny Gray and Stephen Strasburg.

Scherzer does lead the pack in fWAR at 6.5, followed by deGrom’s 6.2, Strasburg at 5.3, and Buehler at 5.0 for the season.

Here’s the Top 5 in each category by NL starters:

ERA

Ryu 2.35
Soroka 2.57
deGrom 2.61
Gray 2.80
Scherzer 2.81

Dodgers lefty Ryu still leads the league with his 2.35 ERA, though his 3.11 FIP ranks fourth behind Scherzer (2.36), deGrom (2.79), and his teammate Buehler (2.87).

FIP

Scherzer 2.36
deGrom 2.79
Buehler 2.87
Ryu 3.11
Strasburg 3.29

Innings

Strasburg 196.0
Madison Bumgarner 195.2
Corbin 191.2
Aaron Nola 191.2
deGrom 190.0

Injuries for have limited Ryu to 168 2/3 innings and Scherzer to only 166 1/3 innings this season, that could play a role in a very tight race.

HR/9

Soroka 0.71
Ryu 0.80
Gray 0.85
Scherzer 0.87
deGrom 0.90

K-BB%

Scherzer 30.0%
deGrom 25.9%
Buehler 25.0%
Yu Darvish 23.0%
Strasburg 23.0%

DeGrom leads the league in raw numbers with 239 strikeouts this season. The next three on the list are all Nationals starters with Strasburg at 235, Scherzer at 233, and Corbin fourth in the NL with 224.

WHIP

deGrom 1.01
Buehler 1.01
Ryu 1.03
Scherzer 1.03
Jack Flaherty 1.03

With less than two weeks in the 2019 season, the battle for the National League Cy Young award is still up for grabs and is certainly worth watching.