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Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello wins AL CY Young, edges Justin Verlander
The individual achievements of Jon Lester and Kyle Hendricks of the Cubs weren't enough in the eyes of voters who selected Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals as the 2016 National League Cy Young Award winner by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Scherzer earned 25 first-place votes to outdistance Lester and Hendricks on a 7-4-3-2-1 point system. Lester, with one first-place vote, finished second. Hendricks received two first-place votes and finished third.
Scherzer, 32, led the NL with 20 victories, 34 starts, 228 1/3 innings and 284 strikeouts. Scherzer pitched at least seven innings 20 times.
Voting was conducted before the start of the playoffs, in which Scherzer was 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA in two starts against the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL Division Series.
The chances of Hendricks and Lester, however, could have been hindered by the Cubs' run to the playoffs. Manager Joe Maddon inserted left-hander Mike Montgomery for five starts in late August and early September to give his rotation extra rest as they prepared for the postseason.
As a result, Lester - with 202 2/3 innings - was the only Cubs' starter to reach the 200-inning mark. That was Lester's lowest inning total since 2011 when he threw only 191 2/3 innings with the Boston Red Sox.
Nevertheless, Lester, 32, led the Cubs with 19 wins and a major league-leading .792 winning percentage in addition to a 2.44 ERA. Lester won 10 consecutive decisions before losing his season finale at Cincinnati on Oct. 1.
Lester had 11 consecutive starts in which he allowed two earned runs or fewer and eight straight starts in which he allowed one run or fewer until he allowed five runs against the Reds.
Lester allowed only five home runs in 92 innings in the second half. Opponents batted .173 with runners in scoring position and .065 with two out and runners in scoring position against Lester. In the postseason, Lester was 3-1 with a 2.02 ERA in 35 2/3 innings.
But with less than two weeks left in the regular season, Lester endorsed Hendricks for the Cy Young Award. Hendricks led the majors with a 2.13 ERA in addition to a 16-8 record. Hendricks was the first Cubs pitcher to lead the majors in ERA since Bill Lee (2.66) in 1938.
Hendricks had 23 consecutive starts in which he allowed three earned runs or fewer until allowing four in his final start at Cincinnati on Oct. 2. Hendricks allowed four earned runs in 25 1/3 innings in the playoffs, and he surrendered only one earned run in 4 2/3 innings in Game 7 of the World Series at Cleveland.
Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta won the 2015 NL Cy Young Award. The Cubs were attempting to have two consecutive Cy Young Award winners since CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee won the award in 2007-08 for the Cleveland Indians.