Major League Baseball announced the 2015 Cy Young Award winners on Wednesday, with the Chicago Cubs’ Jake Arrieta and Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros winning the awards.
The Cy Young winners are voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and goes to who they decide are the best pitchers in the American and National Leagues. The young starters beat out a group of veterans, although Keuchel had a much easier time than Arietta.
Arietta came in just ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Zack Greinke. Arrieta had 17 first-place votes, while Greinke earned 10. Arrieta became the first Cubs pitcher to win the award since Greg Maddux in 1992. He is just the fifth Cubs Cy Young winner overall.
“I'm a little relieved, honestly, to finally know how it played out,” Arrieta said, reports MLB.com. “I have to say thanks to all the guys I've continued to compete against year in and year out to try to take my game to the next level. … All the hard work's been worth it.”
Arrieta, 29, finished the season with a 22-6 record and a 1.77 ERA. He earned two wins during the postseason, although lost his only start during the NLCS.
Keuchel is just the third Astros pitcher to win the Cy Young and first since Roger Clemens in 2004. The 27-year-old had a 20-8 record with a 2.48 ERA and made the All Star Game. He won the AL Wild Card game against the New York Yankees.
“It's something I definitely never expected," Keuchel told MLB.com. "Just playing the game is good enough for me, and just to be in the same category as Sonny and David was special in its own right. But there's a number of pitchers I look up to, and it's something that hasn't sunk in. I don't think it will for some time."