With the 2021 MLB season approaching, it is prime time to start giving way-too-early predictions.
Every year, one of the sport’s most highly contested awards is the Cy Young Award, given to the best pitcher in each league.
In a COVID-19 shortened season, there was not much parity.
Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber ran away with the award in the American League, unanimously winning.
🚨 Shane Bieber is the AL Cy Young winner 🚨
Indians ace becomes first unanimous winner of AL Cy Young since Justin Verlander in 2011 pic.twitter.com/hOJYUrMWv0
— Bleacher Report MLB (@BR_MLB) November 11, 2020
He was dominant throughout his 12 starts, going 8-1 with a miniscule 1.63 ERA and leading the league in strikeouts with 122.
In the National League, Trevor Bauer earned 27 of 30 first place votes.
🚨Trevor Bauer wins the NL Cy Young award 🚨
-Led NL with 1.73 ERA
-3rd in MLB with 100 K’s
-1st Reds Cy Young in franchise history pic.twitter.com/igLNcfUbQZ— Bleacher Report MLB (@BR_MLB) November 11, 2020
He had an equally dominant season, posting a 1.73 ERA with 100 strikeouts.
Each of them were first time winners, showing how competitive the award can be each season.
Now, with the hope of playing a full season in 2021, there may be a lot of contenders for the award.
Potential Cy Young Contenders
While the MLB has plenty of big-time pitchers, the door has been opened a little wider with the injuries to Chris Sale and Justin Verlander.
The two perennial Cy Young contenders underwent Tommy John surgery last season.
Sale will not be available for the start of the season, and Verlander will likely be done the whole year.
This means there will be less competition on the top end for the award, and that it is really open for the taking.
Of course, the obvious candidates like Jacob DeGrom, Max Scherzer and Zack Greinke are always likely to have their name in the running.
However, there is a healthy amount of dominant arms in the MLB today that could have a great year.
Here are three different candidates who may have a shot at taking the award home next offseason:
1. Gerrit Cole
Cole signed a massive nine-year $324 million contract with the New York Yankees last offseason.
Over the last three seasons, he has quickly become one of baseball’s premier pitchers.
He has posted an ERA below three each season, and led the MLB with 326 strikeouts in 2019.
His 2020 season started off slowly, as he carried a 3.91 ERA into September.
He turned it on in the last month, however, allowing just three runs over his final four starts.
This was enough to drop his ERA to a 2.84 and give him a fourth-place Cy Young Award finish.
In a full season, it will be hard for anyone to match the stats Cole will put up.
He is truly a dominant starting pitcher, and it likely the Cy Young favorite entering 2021.
Gerrit Cole's stuff was electric. #ALDS pic.twitter.com/jcYPpjQCBm
— MLB (@MLB) October 10, 2020
2. Yu Darvish
Since entering the league from Japan in 2012, Darvish has shown glimpses of dominance.
1. Yu Darvish
2021 Projection: 4.4 WAR in 197 IP
2019-2020 stats: 3.39 ERA and 5.6 WAR in 254.2 IP pic.twitter.com/57yhzKM27l
— Brent Maguire (@bmags94) December 6, 2020
However, the right-hander really put it all together in 2020.
With his wide repertoire of effective pitchers, Darvish stifled opposing batters in his 12 starts.
He posted a 2.01 ERA with a 2.7 WAR, both some of the best numbers among pitchers in the league.
If he is able to replicate this production over a full season, he could put together a truly impressive season.
It appears that he finally found out how to put it all together, and this could make him a prime contender for the Cy Young Award.
3. Zac Gallen
Gallen is a dark horse candidate for the Cy Young award.
A relatively lesser-known ace in the league, Gallen has showed off his fantastic stuff during his first two years in the MLB.
Arizona @Dbacks pitcher Zac Gallen started off tonight’s game by striking out George Springer, Jose Altuve, and Alex Bregman in the 1st inning. pic.twitter.com/ZcZs4aJqBn
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) August 6, 2020
A full 2021 season could be a breakout year for the 25-year-old righty.
In his short career, Gallen has put up very good numbers.
Though he has only started in 27 games over his career, he has a 2.78 ERA and a solid 5.3 WAR.
With a full, 30-plus start season, Gallen has shown enough talent to be a dominant pitcher in the MLB.
Look for him to take that next step with the Arizona Diamondbacks next season.
Cy Young Award Honorable Mentions
Some other names to look out for this season will be: Trevor Bauer, Shane Bieber, Hyun Jin Ryu, Walker Buehler, Sonny Gray, Max Fried and many others.
The Cy Young Award race will be an exciting competition between a variety of talented arms in the MLB this season.
NEXT: Boston Red Sox Projected Lineup For 2021 (Updated)