But while Arrieta heated up in the second half, Scherzer struggled badly through August as the Nationals lost hold of the NL East lead.
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Arrieta (17 first-place votes) beat out two Dodgers for the award – Zack Greinke (10 first-place votes) and the reigning NL Cy Young victor Clayton Kershaw (three). David Price drew eight first-place votes and 143 points for his split season with Detroit and Toronto and Oakland’s Sonny Gray finished third.
Greinke posted a 1.66 ERA that was the lowest in the majors since 1995.
Rodriguez, who turns 34 in January, went 1-3 with a 2.21 ERA for the Brewers in 2015.
Arrieta’s win gives the Cubs three postseason awards in three days as third baseman Kris Bryant won Rookie of the Year on Monday while skipper Joe Maddon took home manager of the year in the NL on Tuesday. After getting off to what would be considered a rough start by his standards, the left-hander won 16 games, led the league with 301 strikeouts and posted a 2.13 ERA.
But they did earn three major nods from the Baseball Writers Association of America in as many days, capped off with Jake Arrieta winning the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night.
For Kershaw, who has received at least two first-place votes in five straight seasons and 91 total during that span. received 101 total points, giving him a 48-percent award share (since there are 210 points possible, if one were to receive all first-place votes).
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Keuchel received 92 first-place votes (51.40%) and 956 points while being named on 175 of 179 ballots (97.22%). He edged out Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander to win the award in 2012 while pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays. He is the third Astros pitcher to win the Cy Young award, as Mike Scott (1986) and Roger Clemens (2004). Greinke finished with 147 points. His 0.75 ERA after the All-Star break was a modern record, and his 0.37 ERA in the season’s final two months helped the Cubs clinch a wild-card berth.
