The National League Cy Young race was one of the closest awards races in the baseball this year, and on Wednesday night, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes had won the 2021 award in a narrow vote. Phillies righty Zack Wheeler was right behind Burnes and finished second in the voting. Max Scherzer finished third.
Burnes and Wheeler each received 12 of 30 first-place votes, though Burnes received more second-place votes (14 to 9) to take home the award. Scherzer received the other six first place votes. Here are the points totals (five points for a first place vote, four points for a second place vote, three points for a third place vote, etc.):
- Burnes: 151
- Wheeler: 141
- Scherzer: 113
The 10-point margin for victory is the smallest in NL Cy Young history. This is also the second time the winner and runner-up finished with the same number of first place votes. In 1981, Dodgers lefty Fernando Valenzuela and Reds righty Tom Seaver each received eight first place votes, and Valenzuela won the award on total points 70-67.
Burnes, 27, just wrapped up an incredible season in which he became the first pitcher in the Modern Era (since 1900) to lead all qualified pitchers in strikeout rate, walk rate, and home run rate. The rate stats dominance allowed Burnes to overcome throwing considerably fewer innings than Scherzer and especially Wheeler.
Here's how the three National League Cy Young finalists stacked up:
| W-L | IP | ERA | ERA+ | K/9 | BB/9 | WAR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Corbin Burnes, Brewers | 11-5 | 167 | 2.43 | 176 | 12.6 | 1.8 | 5.6 |
Max Scherzer, Nationals/Dodgers | 15-4 | 179 1/3 | 2.92 | 154 | 11.8 | 1.8 | 6.0 |
Zack Wheeler, Phillies | 14-10 | 213 1/3 | 2.78 | 150 | 10.4 | 1.9 | 7.6 |
The 11 wins are the fewest ever for a Cy Young award winning starting pitcher in a full 162-game season. Between Burnes this year and Blake Snell's AL Cy Young in 2018, it's clear voters are beginning to prefer rate stats dominance over bulk innings. The best pitcher on a per-innings basis is the Cy Young favorite.
Burnes is the third Brewers pitcher to win the Cy Young award, joining Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers (1981) and Pete Vuckovich (1982). That was back when the Brewers were part of the American League, so Burnes is the first pitcher in franchise history to win the National League award.
As a finalist, Scherzer was guaranteed his eighth career top-five finish in the Cy Young voting, the fourth most in history behind Roger Clemens (10) and Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux (nine each).
Other National League hurlers to receive Cy Young votes this season include Dodgers righty Walker Buehler and Brewers righty Brandon Woodruff. The full NL voting results are available at the BBWAA's site.