Los Angeles Dodgers free agent Max Scherzer was named a finalist for the 2021 National League Cy Young Award. He’s accompanied by the Milwaukee Brewers’ Corbin Burnes, and Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies.
The trio of right-handed pitchers also were finalists for Players Choice NL Outstanding Pitcher, which went to Scherzer. He previously received the honor while in the American League in 2013 and as a member of the Washington Nationals in 2017.
Meanwhile, Scherzer is a Cy Young Award finalist for the sixth time in his career. He’s taken home the hardware three previous seasons, but not since 2017 to cap off back-to-back years of being voted the NL Cy Young recipient.
Including time spent with the Nationals, Scherzer went 15-4 with a 2.46 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 11.84 strikeouts per nine innings and .185 opponents’ batting average this season. Scherzer led the Majors in WHIP and batting average against, and was second in the NL in ERA and strikeouts per nine.
After being traded from the Nationals to the Dodgers, he went on a historic stretch by posting a 7-0 record to go along with a 1.98 ERA over 11 starts.
During that span, Scherzer earned NL Player of the Week honors for Sept. 6-12 by going 2-0 with just one earned run allowed and 22 strikeouts in 16 innings. Scherzer also picked up his 3,000th career strikeout and became the second-fastest pitcher in history to reach the milestone.
Scherzer would join Rick Sutcliffe (1984) as the only pitchers in MLB history to win a Cy Young Award during the same season they were traded.
Burnes posted a 2.43 ERA and 1.63 FIP in 167 innings while accumulating 7.5 WAR and striking out 12.61 hitters per nine with just 1.83 walks per nine this season.
Wheeler has the edge in innings pitched at 213.1, but trailed in ERA (2.78), FIP (2.59), strikeouts per nine (10.42), walks per nine (1.94) and WAR (7.3).
AL and NL Cy Young Award winners will be announced during a live show on MLB Network on Wednesday, Nov. 17.
Were Buehler & Urias snubbed for Cy Young?
At various points throughout the season the Dodgers had multiple Cy Young Award candidates — if not frontrunners — in Walker Buehler and Julio Urias.
Buehler led the Majors with 27 quality starts, which was four more than the next-closest pitcher. He additionally tied for the MLB lead with 33 starts and ranked second with 207.2 innings pitched. However, Buehler faded a bit late in the season.
Urias was the lone 20-game winner this year and the first Dodgers pitcher to reach that benchmark since Clayton Kershaw during his 2014 MVP campaign. Urias’ 2.96 ERA was seventh in the NL, and his 1.02 WHIP ranked sixth.
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