Wednesday night, Cincinnati Reds right-hander Trevor Bauer was named the 2020 National League Cy Young Award winner. He received 27 of 30 first-place votes and beat out Cubs righty Yu Darvish and Mets righty Jacob deGrom. DeGrom, who finished third behind Darvish, had won the previous two NL Cy Young awards.
Believe it or not, Bauer is the first pitcher in Reds history to win the Cy Young. Cincinnati has had three Cy Young runners-up: Tom Seaver (1981), Mario Soto (1983), Danny Jackson (1988), Pete Schourek (1995), and Johnny Cueto (2014). The Reds played their first season in 1882 and were the only pre-expansion team without a Cy Young winner. The Marlins, Rangers, and Rockies are the only remaining clubs without a Cy Young.
Bauer, 30 in January, led the league in ERA (1.76), ERA+ (276), WHIP (0.80), and hit rate (5.1 per nine innings) this past season. He went 5-4 with 100 strikeouts and 17 walks in 73 innings and was marvelous in his lone postseason outing, striking out 12 in 7 2/3 scoreless innings in Game 1 of the Wild Card Series, though Cy Young ballots were submitted prior to the postseason.
Here are the top four finishers in this year's NL Cy Young voting. The full voting results are available at the BBWAA's site.
| 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Trevor Bauer, Reds | 27 | 3 | 201 | |||
Yu Darvish, Cubs | 3 | 24 | 2 | 123 | ||
Jacob deGrom, Mets | 3 | 23 | 4 | 89 | ||
5 | 20 | 5 | 57 |
The 34-year-old Darvish turned his Cubs career around in the second half last season and carried it over into this season. He went 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 76 innings in 2020. This was his first time getting Cy Young votes since finishing runner-up to Max Scherzer, then with the Tigers, back in 2013. Darvish did that while with Texas.
DeGrom, 32, led the National League with 104 strikeouts and 13.8 K/9 this year. He went 4-2 with a 2.38 ERA in 68 innings. DeGrom has received Cy Young votes in five of the last six years and was looking to join Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux as the only pitchers in history to win three consecutive Cy Youngs (Johnson and Maddux each won four straight).
Shane Bieber, Bauer's former Cleveland teammate, won Cy Young honors in the American League.
As a reminder, voting for all major awards takes places after the regular season and before the postseason. These are regular season awards only.
