CHICAGO -- Cubs manager David Ross fully recognized that much of his success in his first season at the helm was linked to Chicago's pitching. Back in August, Ross even quipped that he had a name for the day Yu Darvish took the mound.
"It's 'Win Day,'" Ross said.
There might still be one Win Day left for Darvish this year.
On Monday night, Darvish was revealed to be a finalist for the National League Cy Young Award, which will be announced at 5 p.m. CT on Nov. 11 on MLB Network. Ross was also named one of three finalists for the NL Manager of the Year Award, which will be unveiled at 5 p.m. CT on Nov. 10 on MLB Network.
Ross' competition for the 2020 Manager of the Year honor includes Miami skipper Don Mattingly and Padres manager Jayce Tingler. As for the NL Cy Young, the Baseball Writers' Association of America's vote will come down to Darvish, Trevor Bauer of the Reds and Jacob deGrom of the Mets.
"He's got some healthy competition for that award, certainly," Cubs general manager Jed Hoyer said of Darvish in September. "Some other guys have thrown great. I mean, I'm so glad he [was] on our side this year. He's been a massive part of why we [won the division]."
On Darvish's Cy Young case
There was a real chance that the rhythm Darvish found down the stretch in 2019 would be disrupted this year. There was an offseason, and then a truncated Spring Training followed by baseball's three-month shutdown, Summer Camp and the abbreviated 60-game season.
Darvish never broke stride.
"He picked up where he left off last year," Hoyer said. "And he's been doing the same thing. So it's not as if this performance is a first-time thing for him."
In a dozen starts this season, Darvish went 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA. He finished with 93 strikeouts against 14 walks in 76 innings, finishing the '20 season with the most WAR (3.0 per Fangraphs) in the NL. Among the three Cy Young finalists, Darvish ranked first in innings, walk rate (4.7 percent), FIP (2.23), Win Probability Added (2.30) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.64).
Dating back to the start of the second half in '19, Darvish has posted a 2.40 ERA with 211 strikeouts and 21 walks in 157 2/3 innings. His 5.4 WAR in that time period is second among qualified NL pitchers, while his 31.2 strikeout-minus-walk percentage led the NL and was second in the Majors.
"A lot's been written, a lot's been said about it, a lot of people were involved," Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein said in September. "But ultimately, Yu Darvish is the one who deserves the credit. I think he got sick and tired of not being at his best and letting people down, and took it upon himself to make a lot of dramatic improvements."
On Ross' Manager of the Year case
Darvish and Kyle Hendricks led a solid rotation for Ross this season, but there was plenty that could have derailed the Cubs' campaign.
Chicago's bullpen was a trouble area early on before evolving into a strength later in the season. There were multiple injury setbacks to the starting staff, combined with a season-long health battle for Kris Bryant. On top of that, the core hitting group underperformed, making any mistake on the mound or in the field magnified. Through it all, the Cubs maintained a steady lead atop the division throughout the season.
None of that even gets into the obstacles that the pandemic presented for Major League Baseball and each team. On that front, the Cubs got through the entire season with zero positive COVID-19 results among the players, who took the situation seriously under Ross' leadership.
"What we saw, what we experienced," Epstein said, "was a very successful first year for someone who's going to be a great manager here for a long time. We feel really good about having Rossy at the helm of this group, of any group, moving forward."
The Cubs won the NL Central title after missing the playoffs in '19, making Ross the seventh manager in team history (first since Lou Piniella in 2007) to win a division crown in his first season.
Ross also quieted any public notions that he might encounter issues managing players who were once his teammates.
"He's earned a lot of respect from everyone throughout the year," first baseman Anthony Rizzo said at the end of the season. "He did a great job of communicating with players and he did a great job of [having the tough] conversations, which is not easy to do in his position, especially being close to all of us."