There will not be a Chicago Cubs repeat for the National League Cy Young Award this season, as Washington Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer took home the prestigious trophy on Wednesday night.
Scherzer, who won 20 games and led the National League with 284 strikeouts this season, beat out both Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks for the award a season after Jake Arrieta took home the prize for the Cubs.
Scherzer won the award in convincing fashion, taking home 25 of the 30 possible first place votes. That dominance gave him 192 total points, easily eclipsing the number that Lester got as he finished in second with 102 points.
Lester received one first place vote and 16 second place votes for the trophy, with Hendricks checking into the third position with two first place votes and seven second place votes.
Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants finished in fourth place, and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers rounded out the top five vote getters.
2015 winner Jake Arrieta received one fourth place vote, which landed him in the ninth position in the voting for the award.
Hendricks came from relative obscurity into the realm of the best pitchers in the game this season, posting a league-best 2.13 ERA and posted a ridiculously good 9-2 record and 1.32 ERA in games at Wrigley Field during the 2016 campaign.
Chicago Baseball
As for Lester, after a season that saw him post a sub-.500 record, he rebounded in a huge way in 2016, racking up an impressive 19-5 record with a 2.44 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 202 innings of work for the Cubs as he helped the team to its first division championship in nearly a decade.
The Cubs have been shut out of awards thus far this week, but they have a very good chance to win one on Thursday night as Kris Bryant is considered to be a slight favorite to win the National League MVP award, as he'll look to fend off Daniel Murphy and Corey Seager for the coveted prize.
