Nationals ace Max Scherzer was named the National League Cy Young Award winner in a landslide on Wednesday, garnering 25 of the 30 first-place votes to become the team's first recipient of the award.
The winner of the 2013 American League Cy Young Award for the Detroit Tigers, Scherzer becomes the sixth pitcher to win Cy Youngs in both leagues, joining Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, Roy Halladay, Roger Clemens and Gaylord Perry.
The award was announced live on MLB Network, with a vacationing Scherzer joining the broadcast via videoconference from a scuba diving boat off the coast of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean.
"It's such an accomplishment," Scherzer said. "I mean, there's so many people to thank -- all my teammates, for going out and competing the whole season, for everything they did for me. I can't thank them enough for everything they did."
Scherzer said he wants to find a way to be better in 2017.
"I've been dreaming up different ways to do it, but until we get to spring training, that will be my thing -- to find a new way," Scherzer said. "But right now, it's all about celebrating what happened in 2016."
Cubs ace Jon Lester was the runner-up, with one first-place vote from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Chicago teammate Kyle Hendricks came in third with two first-place votes. The other two first-place votes went to the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw, who finished fifth overall in voting.
Scherzer led the majors in strikeouts (284) and WHIP (0.97), while leading the NL in wins (20), innings (228.1) and pitching WAR (6.2) and being tied for first in quality starts (26) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.07). Unfortunately for Scherzer, he also led the NL in home runs given up (31), making him the first pitcher since Johnson in 1999 to give up at least 30 homers and still win a Cy Young Award.
Perhaps most notably, Scherzer authored just the fourth 20-strikeout performance in baseball history this season, as he baffled the Tigers in a May victory.
"For the writers to choose me for everything I was able to accomplish this year, I'm so grateful," Scherzer said on the MLB Network broadcast.