Indians’ Bieber, Reds’ Bauer win 2020 Cy Young Awards

Around the beginning of the 2020 season, Trevor Bauer texted Shane Bieber that they both had the same Vegas odds to win a Cy Young, albeit in different leagues.

Bieber’s response: “Why don’t we go 2-for2?”

So they did. Bieber and Bauer were named the 2020 Cy Young Award winners Wednesday night for the American League and National League, respectively. Bauer was a member of the Indians staff up until the 2019 trade deadline, when he became one of a series of players — more recently including Corey Kluber and Mike Clevinger — traded over the last few seasons as the Indians have dealt from their surplus of starting pitching and trimmed the payroll.

Bieber unanimously won the AL Cy Young in what was a foregone conclusion. Bauer ended up running away with it as well, and together they earned 57 of the 60 total first-place votes.

“It’s been great. Obviously, we were locker mates,” Bieber said on a Zoom call with reporters. “We were super close and growing every day. We still keep in touch very often and we obviously have that friendly competitiveness . ... Just thinking about that is extremely special. Nobody is more deserving of it than him. He knows what he wants and he knows how to go out and get it. We keep in touch and I was truly pulling for him. So is my family, and I know he feels the same way. It’s special.”

Wednesday night served as the official declaration of Bieber’s dominant season in which he won the MLB pitching triple crown by leading all of baseball in wins (eight), ERA (1.63) and strikeouts (122). He also led MLB with 3.2 fWAR, a 2.07 Fielding Independent Pitching (similar to ERA, but taking defense out of the equation) and 3.05 Wins Probability Added (similar to fWAR, but it takes leverage and situations encountered into account).

Bieber quickly transformed himself from a middling prospect to the Indians’ No. 5 starter to the staff ’s ace and a key part of their future.

Bieber was with his family Wednesday night when the announcement was made, a fitting scene for the people who supported him through an uprising that began at UC Santa Barbara and continued as a prospect who began to garner some additional attention with a dynamic strikeout-to-walk ratio.

“They put their faith in me and I put my faith in them and that’s really all you need when you’re talking about how a family operates,” Bieber said. “They’ve given me every opportunity that I’ve needed, and fortunately things have worked out and we’ve taken advantage of them.

“But just looking back to college and how everything worked out, I kind of call it a leap of faith, but I always wanted to go to Santa Barbara and we went there without scholarship money the first two years and they always told me, ‘Don’t worry about the money; we’ll figure it out.’ They ended up refinancing their house a couple times and making so many sacrifices that I appreciate them for. Today’s just as if not more special for them.”