Brewers' Corbin Burnes a finalist for NL Cy Young Award; Craig Counsell again among top three managers

The Milwaukee Brewers have not had a Cy Young Award winner since Pete Vuckovich claimed the American League trophy in 1982.

Corbin Burnes officially became a strong candidate to end that drought Monday when he was revealed – as expected – as one of the three finalists for the 2021 National League Cy Young Award along with Los Angeles' Max Scherzer and Philadelphia's Zack Wheeler.

The Brewers produced another finalist when Craig Counsell was among the top three for NL manager of the year for the third time in four seasons. The others are San Francisco's Gabe Kapler, the prohibitive favorite after guiding his unheralded team to 107 victories, and St. Louis' Mike Shildt, who was fired after the season.

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Being a finalist for a Baseball Writers Association of America postseason award means a person was among the top three vote-getters in balloting by that organization at the end of the regular season. Each award will be revealed next week, with managers of the year announced Tuesday and Cy Young winners announced Wednesday. 

Many baseball people believed NL Cy Young would come down to Burnes or Scherzer in a very close race, but Wheeler had the biggest workload of that trio. Burnes led the majors with a 2.43 earned run average and also led the league with a 176 ERA+, 1.63 FIP, 0.4 HRs per nine innings, 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a 6.88 strikeout to walk rate.

Burnes went 11-5 over 28 starts, allowing only 123 hits over 167 innings with 34 walks, 234 strikeouts, a 0.940 WHIP, .201 opponents batting average, seven home runs and 35.6% strikeout rate.

Burnes also put his name in the record books three times during the season. The 27-year-old right-hander set a major-league mark by striking out 58 hitters before issuing his first walk of the season, became only the third pitcher with 10 consecutive strikeouts in a game on Aug. 11 against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field and pitched the first eight innings of the Brewers’ second no-hitter on Sept. 11 in Cleveland.

Scherzer, 37, was 15-4 with a 2.46 ERA over 30 starts for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Washington Nationals, who traded him before the July 31 deadline. He led the league with a 0.864 WHIP, six hits allowed per nine innings and 1.8 walks per nine innings, allowing 119 hits over 179⅓ innings pitched with 36 walks, 236 strikeouts and 23 home runs.

Scherzer, who previously won Cy Young Awards with Detroit in 2013 and Washington in 2016 and 2017, was brilliant after joining the Dodgers, going 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA over 11 starts.

Wheeler went 14-10 with a 2.78 ERA in 32 starts for the Phillies, leading the league with 213⅓ innings pitched as well as 247 strikeouts. He also topped the NL with three complete games and two shutouts.

Other NL pitchers thought to be in consideration for the Cy Young Award before finalists were announced included the Dodgers' Walker Buehler and the Brewers' Brandon Woodruff. 

Under Counsell, the Brewers have made the playoffs for the past four seasons, a franchise record. He was runner-up for NL manager of the year in 2018 to Atlanta’s Brian Snitker and again in 2019 to Shildt. No Brewers manager ever has won the award. 

Here are the finalists for the BBWAA awards:

Most valuable player

National League: RF Bryce Harper, Philadelphia; LF Juan Soto, Washington, SS Fernando Tatis Jr., San Diego. 

American League: 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Toronto; RHP/DH Shohei Ohtani; 2B Marcus Semien, Toronto.

Cy Young Award

National League: RHP Corbin Burnes, Milwaukee; RHP Max Scherzer, Los Angeles; RHP Zack Wheeler, Philadelphia.

American League: RHP Gerrit Cole, New York; RHP Lance Lynn, Chicago; LHP Robbie Ray, Toronto. 

Manager of the Year

National League: Craig Counsell, Milwaukee; Gabe Kapler, San Francisco; Mike Shildt, St. Louis. 

American League: Dusty Baker, Houston; Kevin Cash, Tampa Bay; Scott Servais, Seattle. 

Rookie of the year

National League: OF Dylan Carlson, St. Louis; 2B Jonathan India, Cincinnati; LHP Trevor Rogers, Miami. 

American League: OF Randy Arozarena, Tampa Bay; SS Wander Franco, Tampa Bay; RHP Luis Garcia, Houston.