Top 30 Cy Young Award Winners of all-time
By Jason Evans
17. Randy Johnson 2001
21 wins
372 strikeouts
2.49 ERA
If not for Barry Bonds ridiculous season that year, Johnson may have gotten MVP and Cy Young that season. We all knew what he and Curt Schilling did in the postseason in leading the Diamondbacks to the World Series and stopping the Yankees consecutive World Series streak. But you gotta get there, and Johnson was rewarded with a unprecedented third Cy Young Award.
Johnson won the NL pitching triple crown, tying Matt Morris with 22 wins, striking out 372 batters and posting a 2.49 ERA. Johnson led all pitchers with a 9.4 ERA and was third in the NL behind Bonds and Sammy Sosa.
Johnson was just second in innings pitched behind his teammate Schilling. His FIP was 2.13 which was a full point higher than Morris. His WPA of 6.2 was the highest in the NL as well.
Johnson lost three games in April and would only lose three times the rest of the season. One of his best starts of his career happened in May vs the Reds when he tied the major league record for strikeouts in a game. In the 34 games he started, he recorded double digit strikeouts in 23 of those.
It was just a dominating season, but it wasn’t his best.