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When it came to elite pitchers, the Choppers had the market cornered in 2020. This was an unexpected development, particularly after they lost their long time ace Chris Sale to Tommy John surgery back in the spring. However, Shane Bieber and Trevor Bauer more than picked up the slack. They were the two most dominant pitchers in the league this season, which earned them the American League and National League Cy Young awards, which were announced last week. While both pitchers had remarkable seasons, Bieber was the clear standout pitcher of 2020. And because of that, he is the 2020 DTBL Cy Young award winner.
This race was basically a runaway right from the start. Bieber put the league on notice with a scoreless, 14 strikeout performance on Opening Day. In his second start, the strikeout total fell all they way to 13, but he pitched another eight scoreless innings. He pitched a dozen times this season, never striking out fewer than eight hitters and without ever allowing more than three runs. There was not one single dud in his entire season. The end result was an absurd 1.63 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, eight wins and 122 strikeouts. He led all qualified pitchers in ERA, wins and strikeouts. The ERA is the third lowest single season total among qualified pitchers in league history. Of course, that requires several caveats due to the shortened season, but it is noteworthy nonetheless. His 7.7 PAR was nearly a point and a half higher than Bauer, the next closest pitcher. That put him on pace to top Justin Verlander’s record 17.5 PAR last year over the course of a full season. But again, caveats apply. No matter how you slice it, Bieber was clearly the best pitcher in baseball in 2020.
This ends a lengthy streak of well established stars winning this award. Bieber is just 25 years old and figures to be at the very beginning of his prime. The Choppers selected him in the third round of the 2019 Draft. His rookie season was quite impressive. He led the Choppers in most pitching categories last year too. He won 15 games with a 3.28 ERA and 259 strikeouts. That earned him third place in a loaded Rookie of the Year race. Bieber also finished in sixth place for the Cy Young a year ago. This year, he took his game to a new level, and in doing so, helped the Choppers improve their pitching output by a dozen points. Bieber didn’t do it alone though. Trevor Bauer finished second in the league in PAR and Brandon Woodruff had an impressive rookie campaign as well. If Sale is able to come back healthy next year, the Choppers will have an envious rotation anchoring their squad. My records only contain complete award data since 2005, so I’m not 100% certain about this, but I believe Bieber is the first Choppers pitcher to win the Cy Young award in at least 20 years. Greg Maddux and Mike Mussina are the only other Choppers who may have won this award previously (I’m almost certain Maddux did at least once). The Bieber/Bauer duo does bring back memories of the Choppers dominant staffs of the ’90s that featured Maddux and Mussina. Perhaps they can help lead the team to their first championship since that era sometime soon.
Believe it or not, Bieber wasn’t a unanimous selection for this award. He received top billing on nine of the ten ballots, but was placed second on the other. Still, that’s a pretty impressive 97 total points, well clear of his Choppers teammate. Bauer was overshadowed by Bieber, but he had fairly similar numbers across the board. His WHIP was a league best 0.80 and he recorded exactly 100 strikeouts, one of only three pitchers to do so this year. Bauer was a pretty clear second choice, finishing with seven second place votes and 64 total points. There was actually a third pitcher who had ridiculous numbers that would have put him in line to win this award in a normal season, and that is Moonshiners veteran Yu Darvish. Darvish was just slightly behind Bieber and Bauer in every category. It was his best season since his DTBL Rookie of the Year campaign in 2013. After falling on some tough times, he is now fully healthy and among the game’s best pitchers again. Darvish had one second place vote and seven thirds to finish with 45 points. His Japanese countrymate Kenta Maeda finished fourth. Maeda had his best DTBL season, highlighted by his 2.70 ERA and a miniscule 0.75 WHIP. He was probably the most surprising name among the Cy Young contenders this year after spending several years flipping between the rotation and bullpen for the Dodgers. He proved himself to be an elite starter for the Twins. Maeda received 20 total points. Finishing fifth was the consensus favorite for this award heading into the season, Jackalope ace Gerrit Cole. Cole’s first season in the Bronx was a little bumpy. But when it was all said and done, he still had a pretty impressive campaign. It is hard to feel disappointed with a 2.84 ERA and sub 1.0 WHIP. But the bar has been set awfully high for Cole after signing that massive deal with the Yankees last winter. Cole received a second place vote and 17 total points. Normally I stop the rundown after the top five, but I feel like I have to mention the guy who finished sixth since he was the only person to receive a first place vote besides Bieber. Mavericks star lefty Clayton Kershaw had a nice bounce-back season in 2020, and apparently it impressed someone enough to give him a first place tally. It was the only vote he received, however.
Click here to view the full voting results.
Fernando Tatis and Shane Bieber were unsurprising recipients of the year’s first two awards. The final award, Most Valuable Player, figures to be a much more competitive vote. In fact, I’ll go so far as to guarantee it. I have tentatively planned on announcing that winner next Monday, November 23.