Japanese major leaguers Yu Darvish and Kenta Maeda, who were among the three Cy Young Award finalists in their respective leagues, missed out on pitching's top honor Wednesday.
No Japanese has won either of the honors awarded annually to the most outstanding pitchers in Major League Baseball.
The Cincinnati Reds' Trevor Bauer won the award for the National League, beating out the Chicago Cubs's Darvish and the New York Mets' Jacob deGrom.
"I finished second in the Cy Young voting. A big thank you to my family, my fans, my team staff, my teammates," Darvish tweeted. "I hope I get another anxious day the same time next year."
In the 60-game regular season that was shortened from the usual 162 games because of the coronavirus pandemic, Darvish finished with a 2.01 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, or walks and hits per inning pitched, and 93 strikeouts over 76 innings in 12 starts.
The 34-year-old went 8-3 in his third season with the Cubs and led the NL in wins while tying Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber for most wins in the majors.
Bieber was the unanimous winner of the American League's award.
Maeda, who had a strong first season with the Minnesota Twins, went 6-1 with a 2.70 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 11 starts in 2020.
