For a second straight season, Tarik Skubal is the American League Cy Young award winner. He beat out Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown, the other two finalists. Skubal received 26 of 30 first-place votes. The other four voters had him second behind Crochet, and those pitchers were 1-2 in some order on every ballot.
Skubal is the first pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Youngs since Jacob deGrom took the NL honors in 2018 and ’19. He’s the 23rd pitcher in MLB history to win the award twice. Skubal cemented himself as one of the two best pitchers on the planet by turning in a 2.21 earned run average across 31 starts. He recorded 241 strikeouts, 13 more than he did during last year’s award-winning season, and won a second straight ERA title.
The Tigers’ star southpaw was fourth in the AL in innings, second in strikeouts behind Crochet, and trailed only Logan Gilbert with a 32.2% strikeout rate (minimum 100 innings). Both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference credited him the most Wins Above Replacement of any AL pitcher. He also had the lowest FIP (2.45) and SIERA (2.71). He tied Brown and Bryan Woo for second in the league with 21 quality starts, one behind Crochet.
Skubal is headed into his final season of arbitration control. With no progress on a long-term extension, there’ll surely be teams trying to pry him out of Detroit. It’s very difficult to imagine the Tigers trading their ace on the heels of two consecutive playoff appearances, though. He’ll likely be back as A.J. Hinch’s Opening Day starter and go for a third consecutive AL Cy Young while trying to get Detroit back to October.
It’s the first top three finish for both Crochet and Brown. The Red Sox could not have asked for more out of Crochet in his first season in Boston. He led the AL in strikeouts and innings pitched (205 1/3) while pitching to a 2.59 ERA over 32 starts. This was only Crochet’s second season as a starting pitcher and his first logging a full starter’s workload. The White Sox had eased him back in the second half of the ’24 campaign to not put too much stress on his arm after years working in relief. He demonstrated he’s capable of maintaining his stuff and ace level over a full season with the Red Sox, who signed him through the 2031 season in April.
Brown’s top three placement earned the Astros an extra pick after the first round of the 2026 draft under the Prospect Promotion Incentive. Houston’s ace turned in a 2.43 ERA across 31 starts. He struck out a career-high 206 batters over 185 1/3 innings. This was Brown’s first time receiving any Cy Young votes. He’s entering arbitration and is under club control for another three seasons.
Voters unanimously had Skubal and Crochet as the AL’s best pitchers in some order. Brown was the consensus choice for third, receiving 24 of 30 third-place votes. The other six third-place nods went to Max Fried. Brown and Fried appeared on all but one ballot apiece. Woo finished comfortably in fifth. Carlos Rodón, Aroldis Chapman, Jacob deGrom, Trevor Rogers and Drew Rasmussen were the other pitchers to receive at least one vote.
Image courtesy of Stephen Brashear, Imagn Images. Full vote tally available via BBWAA.
Well deserved.
horace – Agreed! And I’m glad Chapman got 4 votes, he deserved them.
Rasmussen and Rogers though? Come on voters, get a clue. If you’re a starting pitcher you should have at least 170 innings to get votes.
FPG
Glad to see Both Crochet and Chapman got recognized for there great seasons. I believe Chapman was the only reliever to Garner votes. It will be interesting to see if either one can duplicate these seasons next year. The amount of innings Crochet produced this season gives me some pause. Chapmans age is a concern.
cdc – Why did you capitalize Garner? I’m guessing you’re a Jennifer Garner fan …. me too!!! Loved her in Electra.
If both can stay healthy, I think they can have similar seasons.
There was nothing fluky about their seasons, not a Porcello situation.
FPG
Lol. Not sure why it was capitalized , just came out that way. Smokeshow for sure.
I don’t have much concern about Crochet,the way he is built. I can see him being dominant for several more years, He’s built like a Clemens,a CC Sabathia.Big. I definitely have concerns about Chapman,he was just so good last year. Relief pitching is just so inconsistent from year to year. Don’t get me wrong,I’m glad they resigned him. I heard Bradford say less than 50% chance they resign Bregman. Can’t wait for the winter meetings to begin. Hopefully the Sox can get stuff going earlier than usual. Breslow sounded like he had identified the team needs,let’s get it done
cdc – You’re 100% correct about relief pitching, but Chapman has been one of the most consistent throughout his career. And he’s in tremendous shape.
I didn’t realize he got hit in the face by a line drive in 2014, it was really nasty …. similar to Houck.
Yeah I have Breggy reuniting with Hinch, I’m guessing you have him returning to Boston.
FPG
Yeah, I want Bregman back in Boston. I just don’t see a better fit anywhere. I know you like Suarez, the low BA, mediocre defense,and the boatload of strikeouts give me much pause. There is no questioning his power numbers. If not either of them , they may give Mayer the bag and hope he can hit and stay healthy. Hmm.
cdc – Did you enter the Top 50 Free Agent competition? if you did, good luck!
Looking at the list, it definitely seems like a very weak free agent class. I mean Cody Ponce at #39 is very surprising. I know he’s done well in Japan, but the level of competition there isn’t nearly as good.
FPG
I missed the contest unfortunately. I must admit my knowledge of Cody Ponce was very limited. I just looked him up in the KBO. WOW
17-1
1.89 in 180 innings. Those are impressive stats . Is the KBO the 3/4th best pro league? Behind ,MLB,NPB ,AAA,???? What type of contract is he going to get,and should the Sox be interested?
FPG
Just read up on Cody Ponce. Improved fastball velocity up to 98 mph and developed a “kick-changeup at 89 mph. Possibly earning him a multi year contract anywhere from $9 to $12 million AAV. I believe he was in the KBO not the Japanese NPB.
So Chapman is worthy but rogers who came up late after injury and had a historic start to year not allowing runs isn’t worthy of a down ballot vote?… Fried wasn’t good all year should that exclude him? Of course not he’s a yankee.
paos – Chapman is a reliever, he had a historic season for relievers.
Nothing against Rogers, but it’s not fair to compare his results against guys who pitched nearly twice as many innings.
Do you not understand why Skenes finished 3rd last year behind Sale and Wheeler, despite Skenes having better numbers than both?
Isn’t he the first to win back to back AL Cy Youngs since Pedro Martinez (1999-2000)?
yep
Surprise. Never would have guessed.
The price for the Mets to get him went up now.
Meh. Not really. He only has one year left anyway. Why give up so much for potentially just one season. If he was locked down for three years, different story.
Skubals gonna look great in a new york uniform in 2027
Stop. Childish.
Probably 2028, after we’re locked out for a year.
@horace
I think the lockout will be short
Draftkings & fanduel basically run every sport now
An entire yr of baseball lost is bad for business
They’ll find a way to convince manfraud to compromise
As long as it’s the National League NY team
Dodgers*
I can’t wait to see the three or four guys that it’ll takes to pry him away………
Pry away? I said 2027
After hes FA
Congrats to Skubal! Should be an arb3 salary record.
For a pitcher, I’d agree! Don’t think he’ll break Soto’s + Yanks record $31.5MM…
Mariner
And Skubal beat by the Mariners 4 times. If you can’t beat ’em , join ’em.
Twice
Twice during the season and twice in the postseason, correct ?,
Great. Now who won in the NL?
Some kid named Paul.
I wonder how much the arbiters will award Hunter Brown for his first time through arbitration? If I were to guess, it should be in the $8M – $10M range. Cody Bellinger holds the record at $11.5M in his first year. Dallas Kuechel holds the record for a pitcher of $7.25M all the way back in 2015, but he also won the Cy Young that year. Inflation of salaries should award Brown more than this.
Inflation in arbitration salaries is more or less nonexistent. It’s why teams go to trial over $100-200K sums every year.
Dontrelle Willis’ $4.35M Arb1 record stood for over a decade until Keuchel broke it. He needed a Cy to do so, and now Keuchel’s record has stood more than a decade.
I’d be surprised if he broke Keuchel’s record by $100K, let alone $2-3M.
It would have been the 2nd time in 8 years the Red Sox stole a CYA if Crochet won. Part of me rooted for the tongue-in-cheek to happen again. Congrats to Tarik.
If you actually think like a modern baseball fan and account for ballpark and defense and balls in play luck, both had close enough cases that neither could “steal” from the other.
Even in the 2016 award, Porcello wasn’t in any substantial way inferior in the basic stats, and while Verlander was definitely a more dominant pitcher that year you again are forgetting things like ballpark. Verlander had a nice slice of a BABIP advantage, for example.
If you’re going to invest time in bad award choices (including hypothetical ones), try looking for ones with stronger cases.
It was stolen from Verlander. At least two sports writers didn’t vote for Verlander at all, not in their top 10. JV would have won the Cy Young if these two writers had even placed him second.
I still love Kate’s take on JV getting robbed out of that Cy Young…something along the lines of “I thought I was the only one who could F Justin”!!!!!
Porcelain did not deserve it.
Red Sox averaged about 7 runs a game when Porcello pitched. Only reason he won was the 22 wins
As expected. Congrats, Skubal!
First things first, 100% well deserved. I had an inkling of hope of a Crochet upset, but looking at this case on paper, how could you go any other way?
Completely separately, saw he’s the fifth Tiger to win a Cy, all household names except Willie Hernandez….who….won the Cy and MVP in 1984?? And a 23 y/o Cal Ripken Jr. finished 27TH(?!?!) with a 10 WAR, 100+ runs, 195 hits, 25+ homers, etc. That all predates me but if someone could PLEASE explain the 1984 MVP vote to me I would appreciate it
Tigers dominated from the start going 35-5. Willie hernandez was absolutely dominating going a couple innings when needed. His screwball was unhittable that year. It was like watching mo rivera at his peak but for 100 innings.
1984 was a magical year to be a tigers fan. Hernandez had a 1.92 era and a 140 innings pitched with 112 strike outs. He was just dominant out of the BP. They had an older guy that ended up being the set up man. A pretty good one too in Aurillio “Senior Smoke” Lopez. He had a really good year in ’84 also. He started to fade a bit in ’85
I’d love to see him go complete games. I miss those dominant starters…
“I am Dave’s complete lack of surprise.”
Tigers should lock em up. He certainly makes the AL Central race way more fun.
Confused about brown ppi pick
He was sept call up
Thought he had to be on opening day roster or called up within a wk or something? And this is his 4th yr not 3rd
I to was surprised here. I thought Brown would have been far past time for pick compensation.
Brown was brief September call-up in 2022, and therefore still rookie-eligible in 2023. Latter point is important.
Exact details for PPI eligibility are at this link – mlb.com/news/prospect-promotion-incentive-faq
@real
Yea still doesnt make sense
Brown not on OD roster 2022 nor was he called up within 2 wks. He was called up sept
Which should nullify the ppi eligibility
Skenes spent 5.5 months last yr on pirates and won roy & they got nothing. He won CY they got nothing
Did you read the link?
Brown’s time on an MLB roster in 2022 was irrelevant because it was less than 45 days of service time, keeping Brown rookie-eligible.
In 2023, Brown was (1) on the Opening Day roster and (2) still rookie-eligible.
Skenes was never on an Opening Day MLB roster in a rookie-eligible season.
* should have said in prior comment “accrued 1 year of service time” in place of specifically talking about Opening Day roster
And the definition makes sense for the intent of PPI, imo.
Concern with service time manipulation wasn’t that teams were purposely keeping MLB-ready top prospects off the early season roster and not calling them up until late August/September. It was that teams were purposely doing call-ups a few weeks into the season to leave those prospects just short of 1 year of service time, delaying free agency by a year.
Ye saw the link
Missed the part abt 45 days
In any event
Its BS
Should be adjusted
Pirates got royally screwed
A’s too
Top 2 in roy ,they get nothing
Yea i get that tms manipulate service time
But sometimes players legitimately need xtra time. Kristian campbell perfect example. Made sox OD. But he wasnt ready. Found himself back in minors. All bc he didnt have enough time to get prepared for the majors but bc the rule says tm only gets pick if he’s on OD, sox forced to bring him up too early. And if pirates were tryna get xtra yr of skenes then how come mlb says skenes earned full yr of service time in 2024? And still give pittsburgh no pick. Thats a double standard
The Pirates and A’s getting “screwed” on Skenes and Kurtz is the exact intent of the negotiated PPI system. Those teams could have gotten draft picks by calling up Skenes and Kurtz a little bit earlier in the year.
@chandler – top 2 finishers in RoY voting automatically getting credit for 1 year of service time is the “stick” side of the “carrots” and “sticks” of these rules for teams.
As for an example like Campbell: I don’t think any system like this could ever be 100% perfect. There could be legit reasons of roster, or things to work on, for why a good prospect doesn’t get called up until June, but then has a really good season.
But I don’t know if Campbell is a great example of a player who clearly wasn’t ready on Opening Day. He slashed .301/.407/.495 through the end of April, then fell off badly.
Also when aldly rutchman was injured to start rookie year… IL time should be an exclusion
Congrats to Tarik. I feel he should have been unanimous, and I’mm a Sox fan..
Maybe next year Crochet can win, but right now it’s the Tarik Skubal Show.
This dude is practically invisible with his stuff. Congrats
Add another hundred million to the asking price
Awesome year for Skubal! Now it’s time for Detroit to preferably fork over the cash to keep him, ride out the year with him and let him go as a free agent or trade him for an absolute haul if someone wants to pay the crazy price they will be asking (i.e. something like Tong, MacLean, Jett and Baty from the Mets). Not even the Mets will pay the price they will ask.
Congrats to Skubal for this back to back win! 2nd Tiger pitcher to accomplish this behind the “immortal” Denny McLain in 68/69…now let’s see how serious Chris I is about winning and if he decides to back to the brinks truck for Tarik or deals him for a bunch of “never-will-amount-to-anything” prospects like he did to JV…I’m betting the latter since he’s so frickin cheap and only cares about profit over winning
But it’s Chris Illitch’s right to keep his hard-earned, er, uh easily-inherited money!
Yep and it’s our right as fans to boycott going to games if he continues his cheapness…not worth paying $15 for a beer and $9 for a hot dog to watch a pretender vs a contender
The Tigers wouldn’t have even sniffed the postseason without Skubal’s contributions last year and this year. And Scott Harris has the gall to spectacularly lowball him an extension offer.
“Skubal received 26 of 30 first-place votes. The other four voters had him second behind Crochet, and those pitchers were 1-2 in some order on every ballot.”
This is some great writing
He could have just said that Crochet was #2 selection for the 26 of 30 that chose Skubal, but I don’t see the sin here.
Because sin doesn’t exist
“The other four voters had him second behind Crochet, and those pitchers were 1-2 in some order on every ballot.”
I could just be dumb, but that wording didnt’t make a lot of sense to me, Anthony.
Anyways, congrats to Tarik. He’s nasty and fun to watch as a baseball fan.
Congrats to Tarik Skubal 2 Time Cy Young Award Winner!!
Will he stay or will he go!
300-400M dollar man in FA.
Skubal says he loves Detroit, the team, the city, the fans?!
If he loves them that much, then let him prove it by instructing his agent, Bora,s to work out an extension with the Tigers:
10 years 360M?!
Remember, the Tigers drafted Skubal with the encouragement of the Boras Corp when there was very little interest in the MLB Draft for Skubal coming off major injuries and surgeries during and after college.
So, arguably, the Tigers helped to make Skubal into the 2X AL Cy Young Award Winner that he is today.
If not, then will the Tigers Front Office have the guts to trade him for a record haul of top young players and prospects?!
My prediction: Skubal stay in Detroit or getting traded rumors will be getting more hits than Dylan Cease, Michael King and Jo Odel trade rumors combined in ’26!