Major League Baseball gave out its award to the games two best pitchers, the Cy Young Award, on Wednesday with one winner blowing out the competition while the other squeaked by his closest competitor.

Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers received all 30 NL first place votes from the Baseball Writers of America (BBWA), who vote on the award. Two writers from each MLB team's city are given the honors to vote. Kershaw was the first winner to sweep the voting since Bob Gibson did it in 1968.

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The 26-year-old lefty easily outdistanced second place finisher Johnny Cueto of the Cincinnati Reds and Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals. World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants finished fourth followed by Jordan Zimmermann of the Washington Nationals and Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Kershaw won his third Cy Young and was the fifth NL pitcher to win back-to-back awards. He had a season for the ages going 21-3 with a 1.77 Earned Run Average and 0.86 WHIP in 27 starts. He also threw a no-hitter on June 18 against the Colorado Rockies.

Unheralded Cory Kluber of the Cleveland Indians captured the American League Cy Young in a tight vote. He drew 17 of 30 first-place votes, 169 points in all in the system where writers can cast up to 10 votes, awarding points in descending amounts. Kluber was the fourth Indian to win the award and never before had gotten even a single Cy Young vote

The 28-year-old right-handed had a nearly unhittable second half of the 2014 season. He finished 18-9 with a 2.44 ERA and 269 strikeouts. Kluber's consecutive 14-strikeout games in September hadn't been done since 2004 when Arizona Diamondbacks star Randy Johnson turned the trick.

"King" Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners, the odds-on favorite, finished second with 13 first-place votes and 159 points. Chicago White Sox ace Chris Sale finished third with 78 points. Jon Lester of the Oakland A's finished a distant fourth followed by the Detroit Tigers' Max Scherzer and David Price, also of the Tigers.

Hernandez went 15-6 with a league-leading 2.14 ERA and struck out 248 batters in 236 innings. "I don't know what to say," he said. "That was tough."

Tagsmlb, Baseball, cy young, cory kluber, clayton kershaw, Dodgers, indians, baseball writers of america