With the 2025 Major League Baseball season nearing its end, the Cy Young Award races in both leagues are showing clear favorites according to a recent MLB.com poll. The poll, which included 35 MLB.com experts, asked voters to rank their top five pitchers in each league using a points system.
In the American League, Tarik Skubal of the Detroit Tigers leads with 33 first-place votes. Skubal’s performance this season includes a 12-4 record, an AL-best 2.18 ERA, and an MLB-leading 216 strikeouts as of Monday. He also has a 6.2 bWAR and a 0.87 WHIP, both leading among AL pitchers.
Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox is second in the AL voting with two first-place votes. Crochet holds a 14-5 record and has accumulated 218 strikeouts with an ERA that recently rose to 2.67 after his latest start.
Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros ranks third thanks to his consistent run prevention and strikeout numbers. Bryan Woo from the Seattle Mariners follows at fourth place, recognized for his durability and strong WHIP numbers.
Jacob deGrom of the Texas Rangers rounds out the top five in the AL after returning from previous injuries to post strong numbers in several pitching categories.
Other pitchers receiving votes include Framber Valdez (Astros), Max Fried (Yankees), Carlos Rodón (Yankees), Aroldis Chapman (Red Sox), Joe Ryan (Twins), Nathan Eovaldi (Rangers), and Trevor Rogers (Orioles).
In the National League, Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates is now seen as having a significant lead following Phillies ace Zack Wheeler’s season-ending injury due to thoracic outlet surgery. Skenes received 34 first-place votes and leads NL pitchers with a 2.05 ERA while striking out 187 batters so far this year.
Cristopher Sánchez of the Philadelphia Phillies earned one first-place vote and currently holds a fourth-best NL ERA at 2.66 along with sixth-most strikeouts at 181. He has pitched more than most starters this season with over 169 innings logged and has consistently limited opponents’ runs across his starts.
Freddy Peralta from Milwaukee Brewers stands third after going undefeated in August while maintaining one of baseball’s lowest ERAs for that month.
Logan Webb from San Francisco Giants appears again among top NL pitchers due to his high innings count and solid all-around stats including wins, ERA, and WHIP.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto of Los Angeles Dodgers completes the NL top five by ranking within league leaders for WHIP, opponent batting average, ERA, wins, and strikeouts.
Additional NL pitchers who received votes were Nick Pivetta (Padres), Zack Wheeler (Phillies), Matthew Boyd (Cubs), Andrew Abbott (Reds), Ranger Suárez (Phillies), Edwin DÃaz (Mets), Jesús Luzardo (Phillies), Adrian Morejon (Padres).
The poll results suggest that both leagues may see runaway winners for this year’s Cy Young Awards as teams head into September play.
