PHOENIX -- Zac Gallen is the ultimate competitor, who is never satisfied with his performance and hates losing. But the D-backs right-hander took news of finishing third in the 2023 NL Cy Young Award voting in stride Wednesday night because the season was a smashing success for his team.

San Diego’s Blake Snell captured the award with 28 first-place votes and two second-place votes, while San Francisco's Logan Webb finished second with one first-place vote and 17 second-place votes.

Gallen ranked first on one ballot, getting three second-place votes and 11 third-place votes.

• Previous award winners

The D-backs won the final NL Wild Card spot this season in large part because of Gallen’s performance. They went all the way to the World Series before falling in five games to the Rangers.

“I think I would trade that just about every year, if you asked me,” Gallen said of valuing the team’s accomplishments over individual ones. “It’s a lot more fun being able to have a team accomplishment. It’s something you can share with 26 guys as opposed to just an individual award. Of course you’re happy with an individual award, but it’s so much more fun when it’s an accomplishment with other guys that you care about and go to battle with.”

In a season where the rest of the rotation was constantly in flux, Gallen was Arizona’s anchor at the top. He posted a 17-9 record and 3.47 ERA and he reached career highs in innings (210), strikeouts (220) and starts (34).

In the first half of the season, Gallen was 11-3 with a 3.04 ERA in 19 games, earning him the start for the NL in his first selection to the All-Star Game.

Gallen recorded a good second half, but in his final seven starts of the regular season, he had a 4.93 ERA.

However, he was outstanding against the Cubs on Sept. 8, tossing a three-hit shutout at Wrigley Field, and he recorded six scoreless innings in an Arizona win against the Yankees in New York on Sept. 24. Both proved to be crucial wins for the D-backs, who qualified for the playoffs by one game.

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“I think it was good, not great,” Gallen said of his season. “I mean, from the personal aspect, started off really hot. Kind of just seemed to just falter there at the end a little bit. But you know, at that point, my job was really just to try and give us a chance to win. We were playing meaningful baseball trying to get into playoffs. That’s what the big picture is really all about. So I obviously would have loved to finish a little bit stronger on a personal note, maybe be able to take the [Cy Young] Award home, but I still wouldn't trade the way things went for us as a team. That’s really what we're trying to build here in Arizona.”

Gallen, 28, finished fifth in the Cy Young voting last season and made no secret of the fact that he thought he should have finished higher.

This year, he took another step forward and will likely enter 2024 as some people’s pick to win the award.

“Obviously an honor to be a finalist, for sure, something that I was bitter about last year,” Gallen said. “My goal is to win it every year, but I know Blake and I know Logan both pretty well personally. So I was just humbled to be in the conversation with them. Both of them had unbelievable years.”