Shane Bieber, Trevor Bauer earn Cy Young honors

Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber was widely viewed as the presumptive American League Cy Young award winner. 

The voters confirmed his win. 

On Wednesday, the Baseball Writers' Association of America made Bieber the unanimous choice for the award. According to the Associated Press (h/t ESPN), this is the 10th time an AL pitcher was named the unanimous winner of the award and first since future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander accomplished the feat with the Detroit Tigers in 2011. 

Later during the MLB Network broadcast, Trevor Bauer of the Cincinnati Reds earned the National League Cy Young award with 27 of a possible 30 first-place votes. Bauer is the first Cincinnati pitcher in history to win the award. 

Both men deserved silverware this fall. Bieber finished tied with Yu Darvish of the Chicago Cubs atop the wins category with eight, and the Cleveland right-hander led the league with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts. 

Bauer, meanwhile, bolstered his status on the free-agency market with a stellar pandemic-shortened campaign. The 29-year-old was second in the majors behind only Bieber with a 1.73 ERA and finished the year with a 5-4 record and 0.79 WHIP. 

Bauer, who previously pitched for the Indians, has been linked with the New York Mets amid vows from new owner Steve Cohen that the Amazins will "act like a major-market team" moving forward.