In years past the Ballon d'Or race has essentially come down to two men -- Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

This year the suspense is coming down to not who will win the award but which player will round out the top three. The bigger story? Someone might oust Ronaldo.

Messi is going to win the award and at this point there is little say about that. He won three trophies with Barcelona, led Argentina to the Copa America final and has been a devastating goalscorer and playmaker all year round. He is at the peak of his powers.

Ronaldo has been scoring impressively in 2015 but has no trophies and even finished third in UEFA's Best Player of the Year Award.

He is off to a mediocre start in 2015-16 and everyone knows that Ronaldo was the beneficiary of winning the 2013 award on the back of a solid finish.

So who might steal the limelight? Another lethal goalscorer by the name of Robert Lewandowski. The Pole has come out on fire in 2015-16 and leads all scorers in Europe in goals scored. That's right, the Bayern Munich superstar is leading the way in all club competitions with a whopping 13 goals in just eight games; Ronaldo has 10 goals in eight games thus far. To this point the Pole has tried to prove that anything Ronaldo can do, he can do better.

Ronaldo scored five goals and one assist in a match; Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes! He then managed to score 10 goals across three games after Ronaldo put in eight in two. Moreover, Bayern is on fire at this very moment looking like the best team in the world and Lewandowski is the man leading the charge.

He also has three goals in World Cup Qualifiers this season while Ronaldo has none for Portugal. Both teams are in line to qualify but Lewandowski is now the leading scorer in the competition with nine goals; Ronaldo has five.

Throw in Lewandowski's terrific 31 percent conversion rates (goals scored on shots attempted) and you have undeniably the most lethal scorer in the game right now; Ronaldo has converted on 14 percent of his shots, which is in line with his career average. That said, Lewandowski could come back to earth at some point if Bayern's machine stops working as it has or the superstar starts to experience a lull in his form. His career average of converting chances into goals is 17 percent, so he will likely regress at some point. If he does then he will likely find the net less often than he has been. However, if he does, Ronaldo might have to start scoring bigger goals more consistently to secure a spot atop the Ballon d'Or voting.

So why can't the Lewandowski and Ronaldo vie for the spot alongside Messi? Luis Suarez has been solid to start the season, scored the Champions League winning goal and won second place in the UEFA Best Player in Europe Award. Everyone is more predisposed to him at this point because he won a ton of trophies while being a set up man and a goalscorer.