Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello won the Cy Young Awards in their respective leagues on Wednesday night. Scherzer is the sixth pitcher to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues (won AL Cy Young in 2013). Porcello is the seventh Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young Award, most by any AL team.

Scherzer led all qualified National League pitchers in wins, strikeouts, WHIP, strikeout-to-walk rate, and WAR, while Porcello led the American League in wins and strikeout-to-walk rate.

What made Max Scherzer great?

Even with a 20-strikeout start, Scherzer had a 4.05 ERA at the end of May. He posted a 2.44 ERA in his last 23 starts. The keys for Scherzer were cutting his walks (from 2.7 per 9 innings to 2.0) and home runs allowed (from 1.8 per 9 innings to 0.9).

Scherzer had a variety of ways with which he could get hitters out. He had the seventh-highest miss rate with his fastball in the majors, the fourth highest among NL pitchers with at least 15 starts (24 percent). Opponents hit .199 against it, a mark bettered only by Clayton Kershaw (.184), Jake Arrieta (.194) and Rich Hill (.195).

Scherzer’s other signature pitch was his slider. Hitters missed that at a 49 percent rate, second-best in the NL (José Fernandez, 50 percent). Through the end of May, opponents hit .192 with a .370 slugging percentage against the pitch. The rest of the season, they hit .123, with a .240 slugging percentage.

--Mark Simon

Scherzer's best moments

20 strikeout game: May 11 vs Tigers

Scherzer struck out a career-high 20 batters against his former team, of all clubs. He tied the major league record for strikeouts in a 9-inning outing and had the highest strike rate in any 20-strikeout game.

20th win of season: October 2 vs Marlins

Scherzer recorded his 20th victory - 1 shy of his career high, but his most since 2013 with the Tigers - in his final start of the season. The Nationals ended the season on a 10-game streak of winning Scherzer’s starts, including a 4-game active streak for winning decisions for the ace. The Nationals haven’t lost a Scherzer start since August 9.

277th strikeout to set career high: September 27 vs Diamondbacks

Thanks to the 20 strikeout game and 13 games with double-digit strikeouts, Scherzer set a career high with his 277th strikeout in his second-to-last start of the year. He’d go on to strike out 284 total.

--Sarah Langs

What made Porcello great?

Rick Porcello had the best season of his career by a considerable margin, posting career bests in ERA (3.15), opponents’ batting average (.230), opponents’ OPS (.635), walks per 9 innings (1.3) and strikeout-to-walk rate (5.9).

Though Porcello’s primary pitch is his sinker (against which opponents hit .302), he won largely because he had multiple other options for getting hitters out.

Porcello dropped his opponents’ batting average against his fastball 88 points (from .263 to a major-league best .175, his changeup 130 points (from .304 to .174) and his slider 143 points (.333 to .190) from 2015. His 103 outs with his changeup were a career high.

--Mark Simon

Porcello's best moments

Porcello got off to a fast start in 2016, winning each of his first 5 starts with a 2.76 ERA in the process. That 5th win came against the Yankees, with Porcello going 7 scoreless for the decision.

Complete games: July 29 at Angels; September 19 at Orioles

After not throwing a complete game since 2014 with the Tigers, Porcello threw 3 in 2016 (one in a loss). In the two wins, he gave up 2 runs in each, not walking a batter in either game. The July 29 complete game was Porcello’s 8th straight decision won. He was the first Red Sox starter to win 14 of his first 16 decisions since Daisuke Matsuzaka in 2008.

22nd win of season: September 24 at Rays

In his second-to-last start of the season, Porcello capped it off with his 22nd victory, which would be his final of the 2016 campaign. The last Red Sox pitcher to win 22 games in a season was Pedro Martínez in 1999. He won the Cy Young award that year for his efforts.

--Sarah Langs