Brewers’ Corbin Burnes, Blue Jays’ Robbie Ray win 2021 Cy Young Awards; Dodgers’ Max Scherzer finishes 3rd in NL

The Milwaukee Brewers’ Corbin Burnes edged the Dodgers’ Max Scherzer and Phillies ace Zack Wheeler to win the 2021 National League Cy Young Award.

Burnes is the first Brewers pitcher to win the award since 1982 (Pete Vukovich) and the first of their three winners to win the National League version.

Burnes and Wheeler each received 12 first-place votes to finish 1-2. Only 10 points separated them with Burnes appearing second on 14 ballots and Wheeler just nine. It was only the fifth time the top two vote-getters received the same number of first-place votes.

Scherzer, a three-time winner, received the other six first-place votes and surprisingly finished third overall despite leading the majors in WHIP (0.86) and batting average against (.184) and finishing second to Burnes in ERA (2.46).

The vote was the closest since the Cy Young ballot expanded to five players in 2010.

The American League vote was not close at all. Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Robbie Ray received 29 of the 30 first-place votes to win the award.

But Ray and Burnes do have this in common – both were among the worst pitchers in MLB very recently. Ray had a 6.62 ERA in 2020, Burnes 8.82 in 2019.

“With Robbie Ray, it’s very similar,” Burnes said during a conference call. “He had a lot of ups and downs in his career.

“Baseball is always evolving. … That’s something I attribute my career to – always evolving. And that’s something I think I’m always going to do in this game.”

Burnes finished the 2021 season with an 11-5 record and MLB bests of 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings and a 2.43 ERA. He started the year with a major-league record 58 strikeouts before his first walk and finished with another MLB-best – 6.88 strikeouts per walk.

Burnes threw the fewest innings (167) of the top eight vote-getters and the fewest for a starting pitcher to win the award following a full season. He did go at least six innings in 20 of his 28 starts, including eight no-hit innings against the Cleveland Indians on Sept. 11, striking out 14 in a combined no-hitter with Josh Hader.

A fourth-round draft pick in 2016, Burnes made his big-league debut with the Brewers two years later with big expectations. He went 7-0 with a 2.61 ERA in a relief role, then joined the rotation in 2019.

That did not go well. Burnes gave up 11 home runs in his first three starts, moved back to the bullpen and still struggled, posting that 8.82 ERA in just 49 innings.

“Growing up, always wanting to pitch in the big leagues, you always want to be the best in the league,” Burnes said. “For me, (winning a Cy Young Award) wasn’t a goal until really my 2019 season. When you get kicked in the teeth like that, to try to come back to be the best in the league is always the goal.”

Burnes revamped his pitch mix for the 2020 season, adjusted the grip on his cutter and worked with a mental skills coach. The adjustments paid off. His cutter became one of the best pitches in the National League. He was 4-1 with a 2.11 ERA and 88 strikeouts in 59-2/3 innings during the shortened 2020 season, setting up the 27-year-old Burnes for his breakout season in 2021.

Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler finished fourth overall in the NL voting. He received two second-place votes, nine third-place votes, 17 fourth-place votes and one fifth-place vote. And in a sign of just how much voters have moved past simply win-loss records while crunching new-era stats, Dodgers lefty Julio Urías (MLB’s only 20-game winner) received three fifth-place votes and finished eighth.

Ray became the first Toronto pitcher to win since the late Roy Halladay in 2003. New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole got the other top vote in the AL to finish second and Chicago White Sox righty Lance Lynn was third.

Ray topped the majors with 248 strikeouts and led the AL with 193-1/3 innings. He went 13-7 in 32 starts and helped keep Toronto in playoff contention until the final weekend.

Having turned 30 last month, the award sets him up well – a free agent, he turned down an $18.4 million qualifying offer from Toronto earlier Wednesday.

“I’m enjoying free agency,” he said. “The process is a lot of fun.”

Ray said Toronto is “still in the conversation.”

“Obviously, I love Toronto, but we’ll see where things go,” he said.

Ray’s power arm always drew attention. He ranks No. 1 in major league history with 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings (minimum: 1,000 innings), and he was an All-Star with Arizona in 2017.

But controlling his heat and sharp breaking pitches often was a problem, and Ray bottomed out last year. He led the majors in walks while going a combined 2-5 with a 6.62 ERA for the Diamondbacks and Blue Jays during the pandemic-shortened season.

“I knew … I was going to have to put in some hard work,” Ray said, adding, “I knew I wanted to make changes.”

The dip caused his base salary to drop from $9.43 million to $8 million this year. He earned some of that back with a $125,000 bonus for winning the Cy Young honor, and he figures to cash in even more soon.

Drafted and signed by Washington in 2010, Ray made his big league debut in 2014 with Detroit – that staff also included future Cy Young winners Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Rick Porcello and David Price.

Ray was traded with cash to Toronto on Aug. 31, 2020, for reliever Travis Bergen. Ray was 49-51 with a 4.26 ERA over seven seasons in the majors before this big year.

Ray became the fifth Blue Jays pitcher to win the Cy Young, along with Halladay, Roger Clemens in 1997-98 and Pat Hentgen in 1996.

Voting for the awards was completed before the playoffs began.

News services contributed to this story.