Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians was awarded the top pitching honor in the American League by the BBWAA tonight. It’s Bieber’s first Cy Young award. He finished 4th in Cy Young voting last season. Bieber was a unanimous winner, taking all 30 first place votes.
Bieber stood head and shoulders above the field in 2020, his age-25 season and third in the majors. Over 12 starts, he posted a 1.63 ERA/2.07 FIP with 14.2 K/9 to 2.4 BB/9, good for 3.3 rWAR and a 281 ERA+. He led the majors in wins, ERA, FIP, ERA+, strikeouts, and strikeout rate, while he led the American League with the fewest hits allowed per nine innings (5.4 H/9). Simply, it was a remarkable season for Bieber.
Kenta Maeda of the Twins finished 2nd with 18 of 30 2nd-place votes and 92 total points. Hyun Jin Ryu of the Blue Jays finished 3rd with 51 total points, one ahead of the 4th-place finisher Gerrit Cole. There were 11 different pitchers to receive at least one vote. Bieber is the first unanimous winner in the AL since Justin Verlander in 2011.
You don’t say!
Giving out awards for a 60 game season is weird all around but it is especially weird to give out Cy Youngs to starters for pitching a number of innings that you see some relievers reach in a regular season.
But congrats to Bieber I guess.
Omg get over it.
All starters in the league have the same opportunities to make the same number of starts. It’s not like it being a 60-game season gives certain pitchers a distinct advantage over others.
Technically Cardinals starters were given two less opportunities, even more when you consider double headers reduce available days even more! That’s definitely the exception to the rule
I agree. I’m glad a season got played, but I would have skipped the awards.
We had baseball in 2020… Baseball in 2020… We had baseball in 2020
Baseball in 2020
Go back to Canada, Bieber!
Canada??? He is from California
It’s a justin joke I’m sure.
Is it too late now to say sorry?
Go love yourself
As long as you love me
Insert Mike Tyson meme here
Cool, well earned
He won the pitching version of the triple crown… led in era, wins and K’s. He led the majors in all three… Verlander led the AL in all 3 but led the majors in wins and K’s… Kershaw led the majors in era in ’11
2 former Dodgers (2019 were 2nd and 3rd.
Just noticed that too
Dodgers win the title and the 2 starters they subtracted from the rotation go on to be 2nd and 3rd in CY next year. Crazy how deep this organization has been over the last few years
Probably should have won MVP
Had he had done this over 162 games, I think he would have won both the Cy Young and the MVP. Hard to give him the MVP with just 12 starts though.
So what this says is that the Yankees would have better off acquiring Maeda and signing Ryu vs. paying Cole $36M/year? Good to know!
Picking up Ryu and Maeda would have been better. That’s 2/5ths of your rotation. Cole is only 1/5th.
Ryu and Maeda were 11/3 combined. Better than Cole and any of his other starters combined.
He should win the MVP too. He had one of the best season by a pitcher in a while (albeit brief, I know).
Shows you what bias is….not one vote for a Boston pitcher!!!!
Who in God’s green earth would you give a Cy Young vote to in Boston’s rotation? Its not bias chief, it’s a piss-poor rotation in Bean town! I mean come on, who would you honestly give a vote to? Wow…
Dude…ever hear of sarcasm??
Tanner Houck should have won. Undefeated and an 0.53 ERA.
Nick Pivetta runner up. Undefeated and a 1.80 ERA.
Lol
Throw Mariano Rivera and Randy Johnson up there in the top 4 and we got a deal
Shane Bieber struck out 122 batters in 12 starts. That’s absolutely insane! Definitely deserved unanimous status.
AL Cy Young voting is further testament to Andrew Friedman’s strategy for long term success. Two Dodger SP from last year finish 2nd and 3rd in Cy Young voting and the Dodgers still win the WS. And are still loaded with SP. And still have a manageable payroll.
A tip of the cap to Andrew Friedman.
Wow, I didn’t even notice that. People say he just spends money on big free agents to win, but he just doesn’t. Great GM, one of the best.
At least personally, I always felt Maeda and Ryu were overlooked. makes sense of course with at least 2 of Kershaw/Greinke/Buehler being at front basically each of their years in LA
Glad they are getting their due respect. And as others said, Friedman is just a wizard. He’s been playing chess with a few buddies the last couple of years while most GMs are playing checkers
He is the best. And I’m not a Dodgers fan.
It’s too bad he didn’t pitch well in the playoffs as that is what people will remember rather then the fantastic short season he had
I was waiting for this. True, but as you know, they vote prior to the postseason being played. That said, it was kind of shocking to watch that performance.
Bieber Fever!!
AL Pinch Hitter of the Year: Ryan McBroom
Unrelated comment aside, well and good job to Shane Bieber for earning enough nods to win the award.
Bieber was obvious and deserved, but Keuchel was better than Ryu this year.
It’s kinda funny looking over these comments and the Bauer comments. They basically pitched to the same teams yet one pitcher is talked about how bad the teams he faced were while the other is talked about how great of a season he had.
Lol yep. Not a coincidence both CYs game from same division this year
Some great pitching of course. But also some ugly offensive teams
Damn right
Congratulations Shane! Awesome season (acknowledging it was a short one). I realize you never really know the players, but he seems like he’s a really good guy.
While the Central divisions were clearly weak, calling the offenses of the CWS and MIN weak are a stretch. I think the offensive numbers were positively skewed undoubtedly. Bieber was simply the best of the shortened season.
The central divisions were the weakest? 7 of the 10 central division teams made the playoffs. I would say the AL Central was the best division in baseball this year.
And none of them advanced because the pitching couldn’t buy hitting.
And vise versa.
It is astounding that he doesn’t have any fear of fans looking for fair games.