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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.