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A strong finish to the regular season after the Dodgers acquired him at the trade deadline fueled Max Scherzer’s rise to finish third in 2021 National League Cy Young Award. Walker Buehler finished fourth and Julio Urías was tied for seventh, the fourth time that three Dodgers received votes for the league’s top pitcher.
Corbin Burnes of the Brewers won the Cy Young Award, with the Phillies’ Zack Wheeler second.
Scherzer received six first-place votes, five second-place votes, 13 third-place votes, and six fourth-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America. That’s good for a total of 113 points, in a system that gives seven points for each first-place votes, four points for second, three points for third, two points for fourth, and one point for each fifth-place vote.
2021 NL Cy Young Award voting
| Pitcher | Team | 1st votes | 2nd votes | 3rd votes | 4th votes | 5th votes | Points | Ballots named |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | Team | 1st votes | 2nd votes | 3rd votes | 4th votes | 5th votes | Points | Ballots named |
| Corbin Burnes | Brewers | 12 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 151 | 30 |
| Zack Wheeler | Phillies | 12 | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 141 | 30 |
| Max Scherzer | Nats/Dodgers | 6 | 5 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 113 | 30 |
| Walker Buehler | Dodgers | 0 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 1 | 70 | 29 |
| Brandon Woodruff | Brewers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 21 | 19 |
| Kevin Gausman | Giants | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 5 |
| Julio Urías | Dodgers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Adam Wainwright | Cardinals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Jacob deGrom | Mets | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Scherzer was 7-0 with a 1.98 ERA and 1.96 FIP after joining the Dodgers, who won all 11 of his starts during the regular season. On the season, Scherzer had a 2.46 ERA and 2.97 FIP in 30 starts with the Nationals and Dodgers. He led the league in WHIP (0.864) and finished second in strikeouts (236) in his 179⅓ innings.
Scherzer has finished in the top five in Cy Young voting eight times (2013-19, 2021).
Buehler, who set career bests in wins (16), ERA (2.47), starts (33), and innings (207⅔) while striking out 212 batters, received two second-place votes, nine third-place votes, 17 fourth-place votes, and one fifth-place tally, finishing in fourth place. He was named on 29 of 30 ballots.
“I think I checked a lot of boxes for myself and goals I’ve set for myself for a long time, and was finally able to achieve them and stay healthy,” Buehler said on the final day of the regular season. “To make 33 starts is the biggest thing for me, and I feel really proud about that.”
Urías, in his first full season in the rotation, had a 2.96 ERA and 3.13 FIP in 32 starts, and led the majors with 20 wins. Counting the postseason, his 200⅔ innings were 73 more than his previous career high.
“I felt very confident that I was going to be able to do this,” Urías said during the NLDS. “That’s always been a goal to go out every fifth day and go out there and pitch the way that I have.”
Urías received three fifth-place votes, tying with Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals for seventh place in Cy Young balloting.
This is the fourth time three Dodgers received any votes for the Cy Young in the same year, along with 1974 (Mike Marshall, Andy Messersmith, Don Sutton), 2017 (Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Alex Wood) and 2019 (Ryu, Kershaw, Buehler).