Trevor Bauer became the first Cincinnati Reds pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, as he bested fellow finalists Yu Darvish of the Chicago Cubs, and the New York Mets’ Jacob deGrom.
While the Los Angeles Dodgers had the best record during the regular season and won the World Series, the best they could do on the pitching front with respect to awards season was Clayton Kershaw finishing tied for ninth place in Cy Young Award voting.
The 32-year-old, who enjoyed a bit of a renaissance season after laboring through 2019, garnered a pair of fifth-place votes. So too did the Chicago Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks, as well as Zac Gallen of the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Last year, Kershaw received one third-place vote and finished eighth for National League Cy Young. In 2018 he saw a streak of seven consecutive top-five finishes snapped as Kershaw failed to even draw a single vote.
The stretch stretch tied an all-time MLB record that was initially set by Hall-of-Famer Mike Maddux. During his seven-year run, Kershaw won the Cy Young in 2011, 2013 and 2014; finished second in 2012 and 2017; and placed third in 2015.
After being scratched from an Opening Day start due to back trouble, Kershaw remained healthy upon returning from the 10-day injured list. He went 6-2 with a 2.16 ERA, 0.84 WHIP and 62 strikeouts across 58.1 innings pitched over 10 starts.
Kershaw downplayed thinking about the Cy Young Award race as he crept toward becoming eligible for consideration, and emphatically shot down having any concern about personal accolades or standing in the game’s history after the Dodgers won the World Series.
“I don’t care about legacy, I don’t care about what happened last year,” Kershaw said. “I don’t care at all, man. We won the World Series. The 2020 Dodgers won the World Series. Who cares about all that other stuff? To be a part of that team, all that other stuff is just pointless. It doesn’t matter. We won. It’s great.”
Maeda, Ryu make Cy Young Award history
Although Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber was the unanimous winner of the AL Cy Young, Minnesota Twins starter Kenta Maeda and Toronto Blue Jays southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu made MLB history.
They became the first set of former teammates to be finalists for the Cy Young Award with a different team the following season.
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