Cy Young Award winners 2020

The pandemic-shortened schedule dramatically altered the preparation plans for starting pitchers, but it didn’t stop several elite arms from putting together Cy Young-worthy seasons. The Cy Young Award winners, voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, are being announced live on MLB Network.
Will Jacob deGrom win the

The pandemic-shortened schedule dramatically altered the preparation plans for starting pitchers, but it didn’t stop several elite arms from putting together Cy Young-worthy seasons. The Cy Young Award winners, voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, are being announced live on MLB Network.

Will Jacob deGrom win the award for the third consecutive year? Follow along below.

• Every Cy Young Award winner

AMERICAN LEAGUE CY YOUNG AWARD WINNER

Shane Bieber, RHP Indians

The 25-year-old Bieber was the unanimous choice to win his first Cy Young honor, finishing ahead of Kenta Maeda and Hyun Jin Ryu in the AL. Bieber’s 41.1% strikeout rate was the highest ever by a qualified starting pitcher. His 1.63 ERA was the lowest by a qualified AL starter since MLB lowered the mound in 1969, and his .167 opponents’ average tied Pedro Martinez in 2000 for the lowest since ’69.

OK, so the rate stats are unavoidably skewed by the shortened season. But Bieber’s status as the fastest pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts in a season (it took him all of 62 1/3 innings) is an achievement that holds up historically, regardless of the strange circumstances. The young man who good-naturedly handled all of your Justin Bieber jokes (and even a Topps card that confused him with the famous pop singer) made a name for himself. In winning eight games with the 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts, Bieber became the first MLB Triple Crown winner (as in, all of MLB, not just the AL) since Johan Santana in 2006. He also led all qualified starters in FanGraphs WAR (3.2), Fielding Independent Pitching (2.07) and strikeouts per nine (14.2).