Shane Bieber Wraps Up His Phenomenal Season
Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Shane Bieber wrapped up his 2020 campaign on Wednesday. Bieber has been the favorite to win the American League Cy Young Award all season. Furthermore, he is a candidate for the American League Most Valuable Player Award as well.
Jensen Lewis of Fox Sports Cleveland wrapped up Bieber’s 2020 campaign nicely on Twitter.
.@Indians Shane Bieber’s 2020 regular season is complete.
He finishes 8-1, 1.63 ERA in 12 GS
77.1 IP, 46 H, 14 ER, 21 BB / 122 K
He is your American League Cy Young Award winner.
Congrats, Biebs 💥 pic.twitter.com/2YXHOAMnYY
— Jensen Lewis (@JLEWFifty) September 24, 2020
At the conclusion of play Wednesday, Bieber led all qualified American League starting pitchers in ERA. In addition, the 25-year old right hander had a 14.20 K/9 rate on the year and the fourth lowest Opponent Batting Average Against (.167) in baseball. Beyond that, Shane Bieber recorded a 0.857 WHIP which tied him for third in baseball with Dinelson Lamet of the San Diego Padres.
For Bieber, the 2020 campaign was a breakout in many ways. Last year, he concluded the regular season with a 3.24 ERA over 214 1/3 innings of work across 34 games. Beyond that, Bieber was crowned an All-Star and finished fourth overall in AL Cy Young award voting. Given that he posted such spectacular numbers over a shortened 60-game season, it’s fair to wonder what he would have done over the span of a regular 162-game schedule.
Regardless, as it stands at the end of play Wednesday, the Indians would square off against the Oakland Athletics in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. However, there is the potential the Chicago White Sox could end up being Cleveland’s opponent instead. That is nothing that the White Sox want to deal with.
Shane Bieber Against the Chicago White Sox
Bieber made two starts against the White Sox this season. During his first start on August 9th, he pitched six innings while giving up three earned runs and two walks. He recorded eight strikeouts during that start and held Chicago to a .168 batting average against. His second start against Chicago came Wednesday. Although he only threw five innings, he did record ten strikeouts.
If Bieber hadn’t pitched at this elite level, who knows where the Indians would be right now in the standings let alone the American League playoff picture.
Carlos Santana Reaches a Milestone
Besides Shane Bieber being the talk of the Indians this season, Carlos Santana has quietly had an impactful season. While Santana is batting .197/.350/.332 on the year, he does have 45 walks which leads all of baseball. In addition, Santana has 38 hits, five doubles, seven home runs, 26 RBI, and 43 strikeouts over the span of 56 games or 193 at bats.
On Wednesday, Santana reached another milestone. Fox Sports Cleveland had that news on their Twitter account.
Congrats, @TheRealSlamtana! 👏👏#OurTribe | @Indians pic.twitter.com/Jv6O1jx9de
— Bally Sports Cleveland (@BallySportsCLE) September 23, 2020
For Santana, being alongside Larry Doby is quite an honor. Doby, a Hall of Famer, made his official MLB debut on July 5th, 1947 at the age of 23. Of the 13 seasons he played in the big leagues, ten of them were with the Indians. Over that span, Doby slashed .286/.389/.500 over 5,082 plate appearances with 1,234 hits, 190 doubles, 45 triples, 215 home runs, 776 RBI, 703 walks, and 805 strikeouts.
The Top Five players on the home run list for the Cleveland Indians include: Franchise leader Jim Thome (337), Albert Belle (242), Manny Ramirez (236), Earl Averill (226), and Hal Trosky (216).
Looking Ahead
The Indians will look to sweep the aforementioned Chicago White Sox Thursday. Zach Plesac (4-2, 1.85 ERA) toes the rubber for Cleveland while Dallas Keuchel (6-2, 2.04 ERA) gets the ball for Chicago. First pitch is at 5:10 Eastern. After that, the Indians finish the regular season with a three-game set against the Pittsburgh Pirates at home.
Main Image: Embed from Getty Images
