Darvish, Maeda Finalists For Cy Young Award
Two Japanese baseball stars are in the running for the highest pitching honor in the US Major Leagues. Darvish Yu of the Chicago Cubs and Maeda Kenta of the Minnesota Twins are finalists for the Cy Young Award.
The award is given annually to the best pitcher in each league. It is named after the late pitcher Cy Young, who earned 511 wins in his career--the most in MLB history.
The MLB Network announced on Tuesday the results of voting by reporters of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
This is the second time that Darvish has been among the finalists. He was runner up in the American League in 2013. Maeda is a finalist for the first time.
Darvish, in his eighth season in the Major Leagues and third with the Cubs, became the first Japanese pitcher to top a league for wins. He finished 8-3, with a 2.01 earned run average.
Maeda, in his fifth year in the Major Leagues and first with the Twins, went 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA this season.
But he faces stiff opposition for the American League award from Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Indians, who posted a 8-1 record with an ERA of 1.63 and 122 strikeouts.
The winners will be announced on November 11.
