David Schoenfield
Nov. 12, 2025
Tarik Skubal confirmed his greatness in 2025, winning his second straight American League Cy Young Award, while Paul Skenes followed his Rookie of the Year season by taking the National League award unanimously (30 first-place votes).
Skubal, the left-hander for the Detroit Tigers, received 26 of 30 first-place votes, beating Garrett Crochet and Hunter Brown in AL balloting. He is the first pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Youngs since Jacob deGrom (2018-19) and the first AL pitcher to do it since Pedro Martínez (1999-2000). Skenes becomes only the fifth pitcher to win a Cy Young in his first or second season, joining Fernando Valenzuela, Bret Saberhagen, Dwight Gooden and Tim Lincecum.
Skubal finished 13-6 with a 2.21 ERA and 241 strikeouts in 195⅓ innings, leading the AL in Baseball-Reference WAR (6.5) and FanGraphs WAR (6.6). He led qualified AL pitchers in ERA, strikeout rate (32.2%), lowest walk rate (4.4%), OBP allowed (.240) and OPS allowed (.559). Skubal’s fastball averaged nearly 98 mph and his changeup held hitters to a .154 average and produced about 110 of his strikeouts. He did not allow a run in 12 of his 31 starts — the most scoreless starts of at least six innings in Tigers history and the most in the majors since Adam Wainwright in 2014.
His most dominant outing was a two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts vs. the Cleveland Guardians on May 25, needing only 94 pitches for a game score of 96, the best in the AL in 2025. Skubal credited time rehabbing his 2023 injury for allowing extended work on his changeup and pitch design. “I was able to work on things for extended periods of time on rehab assignment … there’s kind of a little bit of a blessing in disguise in getting hurt in that aspect,” he said.
Skubal’s season ended in disappointment when he started Game 5 of the ALDS for the second straight year and left after six innings with 13 strikeouts and a 2-1 lead, but the Tigers lost to Seattle in 15 innings. With one season left before free agency and Scott Boras as his agent, the Tigers have not commented on extension or trade plans; GM Jeff Greenberg said the team would not discuss players in that context. Boras said, “we’ll continue to discuss” a possible extension. Skubal is the fifth Detroit pitcher to win the Cy Young, joining Denny McLain, Willie Hernandez, Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.
Skenes, a 23-year-old right-hander for the Pittsburgh Pirates, was unanimous after a 10-10 season with a 1.97 ERA, 216 strikeouts in 187⅔ innings, 11 home runs allowed and a .199 opponent average. He led NL pitchers in ERA, WHIP (0.948) and FanGraphs WAR (6.5), and tied for second in strikeouts. Cristopher Sanchez received all 30 second-place votes and finished second in NL balloting; Yoshinobu Yamamoto was third.
At 23, Skenes is the youngest qualified pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA since Dwight Gooden and the third-youngest to combine a sub-2.00 ERA with 200 strikeouts, behind Gooden and Vida Blue. Skenes averaged 98.2 mph with his fastball, throws seven pitches, and featured a sweeper (.150 average allowed) and an exceptional changeup (.103). His four-seam fastball accounted for 104 of his strikeouts. “It truly is a team effort with the coaches that we had and the players,” Skenes said. “I couldn’t have done it by myself and I’m super grateful that I’ve had the infrastructure around me to succeed.”
Skenes’ 10-10 record reflects poor run support: the Pirates scored zero runs in five of his 32 starts and one run in another five. He had 12 scoreless starts, going 7-0 in those games, and was 1-2 in six starts in which he allowed one run. Selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft after dominant college work at LSU (he began college as a two-way player at Air Force), Skenes debuted in May 2024 after only 34 minor-league innings and started the All-Star Game in both 2024 and 2025, the first pitcher to start the All-Star Game in his first two seasons.
This is only the second time both starting pitchers from the All-Star Game went on to win the Cy Young in the same year, after Randy Johnson and Roger Clemens in 2001.
ESPN’s Jesse Rogers contributed to this report.
