Box-Toppers’ two top-ranked pitchers in 2020 won this season’s Cy Young Awards.
Box-Toppers postseason honors ballot
Here are Box-Toppers' ballot selections for Internet Baseball Writers Association of America (IBWAA) Cy Young Awards. The ballot required voters to rank the top five pitchers in each league.Players are shown with their team and their Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2020.
| AL Cy Young | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Shane Bieber | Indians | 11.4 |
| 2 | Lance Lynn | Rangers | 9.1 |
| 3 | Kenta Maeda | Twins | 8.4 |
| 4 | Tyler Glasnow | Rays | 8.0 |
| 5 | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | 7.4 |
| NL Cy Young | |||
| Player | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Trevor Bauer | Reds | 10.0 |
| 2 | Yu Darvish | Cubs | 9.7 |
| 3 | Dinelson Lamet | Padres | 9.0 |
| 4 | Jacob deGrom | Mets | 8.7 |
| 5 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | 7.7 |
Shane Bieber of the Indians, who led all American League players with 11.4 Box-Toppers points, was named Cy Young winner in the AL. And Trevor Bauer of the Reds, who led all National League players with 10.0 Box-Toppers points, was named winner in the NL.
The awards are voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Votes are cast at the end of the regular season, before the start of the postseason, and were announced Wednesday.
Bieber and Bauer were also Box-Toppers’ overall top two-ranked players in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season and the only two players who reached 10.0 Box-Toppers points during the season.
Bieber was the unanimous choice for AL Cy Young by baseball writers, winning all 30 first-place votes. Bauer was voted first-place in 27 of 30 votes for NL Cy Young. (See charts at the bottom of the page for complete voting results and how Cy Young finalists fared in Box-Toppers points in 2020.)
Among AL pitchers, Bieber finished ahead of Lance Lynn of the Rangers in Box-Toppers points. Lynn ranked second among AL pitchers with 9.1, but finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting. Kenta Maeda of the Twins, who finished second in AL Cy Young voting, had 8.4 Box-Toppers points, third among AL pitchers. Hyun Jin Ryu of the Blue Jays finished third in AL Cy Young voting and ranked ninth among AL pitchers with 6.0 Box-Toppers points.
Box-Toppers leaders winning both Cy Young Awards
This is the 10th season the Box-Toppers pitching leader in each league has won both Cy Young Awards. Here are all 10 instances since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995.| Year | League | Player | Team | BTP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | AL | Randy Johnson | Mariners | 23.7 |
| NL | Greg Maddux | Braves | 23.4 | |
| 1997 | AL | Roger Clemens | Blue Jays | 27.4 |
| NL | Pedro Martinez | Expos | 26.7 | |
| 1999 | AL | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | 31.4 |
| NL | Randy Johnson | Diamondbacks | 31.5 | |
| 2000 | AL | Pedro Martinez | Red Sox | 33.5 |
| NL | Randy Johnson | Diamondbacks | 33.7 | |
| 2009 | AL | Zack Greinke | Royals | 21.5 |
| NL | Tim Lincecum | Giants | 19.7 | |
| 2011 | AL | Justin Verlander | Tigers | 24.4 |
| NL | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | 26.1 | |
| 2013 | AL | Max Scherzer | Tigers | 18.1 |
| NL | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | 21.7 | |
| 2014 | AL | Corey Kluber | Indians | 21.2 |
| NL | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | 31.5 | |
| 2015 | AL | Dallas Keuchel | Astros | 21.4 |
| NL | Jake Arrieta | Cubs | 29.1 | |
| 2020 | AL | Shane Bieber | Indians | 11.4 |
| NL | Trevor Bauer | Reds | 10.0 |
Among NL pitchers, Bauer finished ahead of Yu Darvish of the Cubs in Box-Toppers points. Darvish also ranked second among NL pitchers with 9.7 Box-Toppers points. Jacob deGrom of the Mets finished third in NL Cy Young voting; he ranked fourth among NL pitchers with 8.7 Box-Toppers points. Dinelson Lamet of the Padres, who ranked third among NL pitchers with 9.0 Box-Toppers points, finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting.
Bieber won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors eight times in 2020, including winning overall Player of the Day honors twice (worth 1.0 bonus Box-Toppers point each time) and AL Player of the Day twice (worth 0.7 bonus Box-Toppers points each time), giving him 11.4 points.
Bauer won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors six times in 2020, including winning overall Player of the Day honors four times (worth 1.0 bonus Box-Toppers point each time), giving him 10.0 points.
Tyler Glasnow of the Rays is Box-Toppers’ highest-ranking pitcher who did not receive Cy Young votes. Glasnow ranked eighth overall with 8.0 Box-Toppers points, fourth among AL pitchers.
•
This is the first time since 2015 that the Box-Toppers points leader among pitchers in both leagues also won both Cy Young Awards. That year, Jake Arrieta of the Cubs won in the NL (leading NL pitchers with 29.1 Box-Toppers points) and Dallas Keuchel of the Astros won in the AL (leading AL pitchers with 21.4 points).
This is the 10th season since 1995 that the Box-Toppers pitching leader in each league has won both Cy Young Awards. (See chart on this page Box-Toppers leaders winning both Cy Young Awards.)
Box-Toppers pitching leaders and Cy Young Award winners historically have been consistent with each other 60 percent of the time. Since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995, the NL pitcher leading in Box-Toppers points has won the NL Cy Young Award 17 of 25 times and the the AL pitcher leading in Box-Toppers points has won the AL Cy Young Award 13 of 25 times.
•
Of the 11 AL pitchers to receive Cy Young votes, 10 of them are among the top 20 AL pitchers in 2020 Box-Toppers points. The only one outside the top 20—very far outside the top 20—is Dallas Keuchel of the White Sox, who ranks 87th among AL pitchers with just 1.0 Box-Toppers point. Keuchel earned the 1.0 point as Player of the Game Sept. 6. He made 11 starts in 2020 and appeared in seven White Sox wins, but in those other seven games he was beaten out by a teammate for Player of the Game honors. Keuchel won the AL Cy Young in 2015 with the Astros.
Of the 12 NL pitchers to receive Cy Young votes, 10 of them are among the top 13 NL pitchers in 2020 Box-Toppers points. Two players who earned only 1.0 Box-Toppers point in 2020 received votes:
Zack Wheeler of the Phillies, 12th in NL Cy Young voting and 69th among NL pitchers in 2020 Box-Toppers points.
Devin Williams of the Brewers, eighth in NL Cy Young voting and 124th among NL pitchers in 2020 Box-Toppers points. (Though both Wheeler and Williams earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point each in 2020, Wheeler ranks higher because he had more 2019 Box-Toppers points—9.0 vs. 0.0.)
•
The Internet Baseball Writers Association of America also voted Bieber and Bauer as their 2020 Cy Young winners. Box-Toppers votes in the IBWAA awards and voted for both winners for the awards. Here are the IBWAA results:
AL Cy Young:
1st Place: Shane Bieber, Indians - 937 points
2nd Place: Kenta Maeda, Twins - 328 points
3rd Place: Gerrit Cole, Yankees - 216 points
NL Cy Young:
1st Place: Trevor Bauer, Reds - 628 points
2nd Place: Yu Darvish, Cubs - 517 points
3rd Place: Jacob deGrom, Mets - 465 points
About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Related
Box-Toppers picks for 2020 postseason awards
A look at 2020 baseball awards finalists and how they fared in Box-Toppers rankings
Box-Toppers looks at previous year’s Cy Young voting: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015
American League Cy Young Award voting
Shane Bieber of the Indians was voted 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner as the league’s top pitcher. He also led AL pitchers in 2020 Box-Toppers points. Below are the AL pitchers in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through fifth-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2020 and their rank in points among AL pitchers.| AL pitcher | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shane Bieber | Indians | pi sp | 30 | 210 | 11.4 | 1 | ||||
| 2 | Kenta Maeda | Twins | pi sp | 18 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 92 | 8.4 | 3 | |
| 3 | Hyun Jin Ryu | Blue Jays | pi sp | 4 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 51 | 6.0 | 9 | |
| 4 | Gerrit Cole | Yankees | pi sp | 2 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 50 | 7.4 | 5 | |
| 5 | Dallas Keuchel | White Sox | pi sp | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 46 | 1.0 | 87 | |
| 6 | Lance Lynn | Rangers | pi sp | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 9.1 | 2 | |
| 7 | Lucas Giolito | White Sox | pi sp | 3 | 2 | 5 | 18 | 7.0 | 6 | ||
| 8 | Chris Bassitt | Athletics | pi sp | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 6.4 | 8 | ||
| 9 | Dylan Bundy | Angels | pi sp | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7.0 | 7 | |||
| 10 | Liam Hendriks | Athletics | pi cp | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4.0 | 19 | |||
| 11 | Framber Valdez | Astros | pi sp mr | 1 | 1 | 4.7 | 15 |
National League Cy Young Award voting
Trevor Bauer of the Reds was voted 2020 NL Cy Young Award winner as the league’s top pitcher. He also led NL pitchers in 2020 Box-Toppers points. Below are the NL pitchers in order of their voting finish, shown with their first- through fifth-place votes and their voting points total. Also shown are each player’s Box-Toppers point (BTP) total for 2020 and their rank in points among NL pitchers.| NL pitcher | Team | Pos | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | BTP | Rank | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trevor Bauer | Reds | pi sp | 27 | 3 | 201 | 10.0 | 1 | |||
| 2 | Yu Darvish | Cubs | pi sp | 3 | 24 | 2 | 123 | 9.7 | 2 | ||
| 3 | Jacob deGrom | Mets | pi sp | 3 | 23 | 4 | 89 | 8.7 | 4 | ||
| 4 | Dinelson Lamet | Padres | pi sp | 5 | 20 | 2 | 57 | 9.0 | 3 | ||
| 5 | Max Fried | Braves | pi sp | 4 | 7 | 15 | 5.7 | 13 | |||
| 6 | Corbin Burnes | Brewers | pi sp | 1 | 10 | 12 | 7.7 | 7 | |||
| 7 | Aaron Nola | Phillies | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7.7 | 6 | |||
| 8 | Devin Williams | Brewers | pi mr | 3 | 3 | 1.0 | 124 | ||||
| 9 | Kyle Hendricks | Cubs | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 6.0 | 9 | ||||
| 9 | Zac Gallen | Diamondbacks | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 6.0 | 11 | ||||
| 9 | Clayton Kershaw | Dodgers | pi sp | 2 | 2 | 7.7 | 5 | ||||
| 12 | Zack Wheeler | Phillies | pi sp | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 69 |