New York ? Bartolo Colon won the American League Cy Young Award on Tuesday in a surprisingly one-sided vote, becoming the first Angels pitcher in 41 years to take home the honor.

Colon, who led the league with 21 wins, was listed first on 17 ballots and second on the other 11 for 118 points in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He was the only pitcher named on every ballot, easily beating out New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, who received 68 points.

Rivera received eight first-place votes, while 2004 winner Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins received three and finished third.

“After the season, yeah, I’ve been thinking about it a lot,” Colon said through a translator during a conference from the Dominican Republic. “And one of the prevailing thoughts was the fact that maybe I won’t get it. Maybe it was going to go to somebody else. A lot of crazy things came into my head.”

Dean Chance was the only other Cy Young Award winner in the Angels’ 45-season history, winning in 1964.

Though Colon (21-8) was the league’s only 20-game winner, this year’s Cy Young race was thought to be close. His 3.48 ERA and 157 strikeouts ranked eighth, while Rivera racked up 43 saves and a career-best 1.38 ERA. Santana went 16-7 with a 2.87 ERA and led the majors with 238 strikeouts.

A shoulder injury sidelined Colon in the playoffs, but voting for all BBWAA awards takes place at the end of the regular season and excludes postseason performance.

“Mariano had a great year,” Colon said, thanking Rivera for teaching him how to throw his cut fastball one day during batting practice years ago. “I did think about the fact that maybe he was going to come away and be the winner.”

Both pitched for division champions, but the voters ultimately gave more weight to the starter: Colon threw 2222â3 innings to Rivera’s 781â3.