Bieber becomes the seventh pitcher to win the AL Cy Young Award by unanimous vote, while Trevor Bauer took home the NL honors over Yu Darvish and Jacob deGrom.
Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber was unanimously voted as the winner of the 2020 American League Cy Young Award Wednesday night, receiving all 30 first-place votes. The National League race, expected to be much tighter, ended up being fairly decisive with Cincinnati Reds ace Trevor Bauer winning over the other two finalists, Yu Darvish and Jacob deGrom.
Bieber led the majors in wins (eight), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122) in a dominant campaign in which he struck out 10 or more hitters in eight of his 12 starts. He finished fourth in the voting in 2019 after going 15-8 with a 3.28 ERA and 259 strikeouts.
Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda finished second, with Blue Jays lefty Hyun-Jin Ryu coming in third.
Bauer received 27 of the 30 first-place votes, with Darvish getting the other three and coming in second. Bauer led the NL ERA (1.73) and WHIP (0.80). He also threw two shutouts, tops in the majors. Bauer is the first pitcher in Reds history to win the award. deGrom, who won the award the past two seasons, finished in third place.
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Bieber's win marks the sixth time a member of the Indians has won the Cy Young Award, joining a group that includes Gaylord Perry (1972), CC Sabathia (2007), Cliff Lee (2008) and Corey Kluber (2014 and 2017). This is the 10th time the AL winner has done so unanimously, a feat most recently accomplished by Justin Verlander in 2011. Three pitchers have won the AL Cy Young Award unanimously twice: Johan Santana (2004 and 2006), Pedro Martinez (1999 and 2000) and Roger Clemens (1986 and 1998).
The Reds have had five pitchers finish in second in Cy Young voting, most recently Johnny Cueto in 2014. This year marks the second time Darvish has finished as runner-up, following the 2013 vote in which he came in second to Max Scherzer in the AL.