Jake Arrieta of the Chicago Cubs aced out Dodgers stars Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw for the NL Cy Young Award while Houston lefty Dallas Keuchel won the AL honor Wednesday.
In what was expected to be a tighter three-person race, Arrieta got 17 first-place votes for 169 points from members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Greinke drew 10 first-place votes and had 147 points. Kershaw had the other three firsts and 101 points.
Arrieta led the majors in wins, going 22-6. He went 11-0 in his last 12 starts, pushing the Cubs into the playoffs for the first time since 2008. The 29-year-old righty had a 1.77 ERA, struck out 236 and pitched a no-hitter.
The Cubs won a major postseason award for the third straight day. Kris Bryant was the NL Rookie of the Year and Joe Maddon was the NL Manager of the Year.
Greinke posted a 1.66 ERA that was the lowest in the majors since Maddux in 1995. Greinke went 19-3, fanned 200 and had a scoreless streak of 45 2-3 innings.
Kershaw had won three of the previous four NL Cy Youngs. He struck out 301, the most in the majors since 2002, and went 16-7 with a 2.13 ERA for the NL West champions.
