{"id":109409,"date":"2025-11-12T20:51:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T01:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=109409"},"modified":"2025-11-12T20:51:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T01:51:33","slug":"mlb-announces-2025-cy-young-award-winners-skenes-skubal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/12\/mlb-announces-2025-cy-young-award-winners-skenes-skubal\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Announces 2025 Cy Young Award Winners"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/skenepa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul Skenes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/skubata01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tarik Skubal<\/a> are the winners of the 2025 Cy Young Award for their respective leagues. The winners were announced on MLB Network on Wednesday evening. Skenes of the National League\u2019s Pittsburgh Pirates captured all 30 possible first-place votes. Skubal of the American League\u2019s Detroit Tigers, a repeat winner, won 26 first-place votes.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_102871\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-102871\" style=\"width: 848px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-102871\" src=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"848\" height=\"565\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-2048x1365.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/06\/USATSI_26530269_168400885_lowres-1200x800.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 848px) 100vw, 848px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-102871\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jun 25, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Paul Skenes throws a pitch in the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are 2025 Cy Young Awardees<\/h2>\n<p>The results come as little surprise after the two hurlers started against one another in the 2025 All-Star Game and continued their stellar pitching after the break. Barring injuries, the duo has plenty of All-Star appearances and Cy Young Awards in their future. For Skenes, it\u2019s another feather in his Pirates cap after <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/18\/paul-skenes-luis-gil-2024-rookie-of-the-year\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">winning the NL Rookie of the Year Award<\/a> last year. For Skubal, who took home the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2024\/11\/20\/cy-young-award-winners-2024\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">AL Cy Young Award last season<\/a>, it never gets old.<\/p>\n<h3>Skenes Takes Home His First Cy Young Award<\/h3>\n<p>The right-hander Skenes, 23, becomes the first Cy Young Award winner as a starter not to post a winning record, finishing 10-10 for the 71-91 Pirates. The won-lost record has long been meaningless in evaluating a pitcher anyway. That\u2019s more so in today\u2019s pitch-count era, with starters rarely lasting past the sixth inning. In any event, Skenes put up other numbers that were hard for the voters to ignore. He led the majors with a 1.97 ERA while leading the NL with a 0.948 WHIP and holding opponents to a .199 batting average. Last year, those figures were 1.96, 0.947, and .198, respectively. It\u2019s been suggested jokingly that the kid must be slipping.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">In just his second season, Paul Skenes wins the NL Cy Young Award \ud83c\udfc6<\/p>\n<p>Year one: ROY. Year two: Cy Young. \ud83d\udcc8 <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/RDZMN2z1Z3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/RDZMN2z1Z3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ESPN (@espn) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/espn\/status\/1988772949713670292?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Skenes also led Major League Baseball with a 217 ERA+, 2.36 FIP, 5.1 Pitcher WPA, and 0.5 home runs allowed per nine innings. He struck out 29.5 percent of batters faced, posting a healthy 5.14 strikeout-to-walk ratio. With anything resembling run support, an unfamiliar concept to the 2025 Pirates, he could have been a 20-game winner. He didn\u2019t allow a run in 12 starts. There were six more starts where he allowed only one run. Two of those six runs were unearned. Those 18 starts produced eight no-decisions.<\/p>\n<h3>There\u2019s One in Every Crowd<\/h3>\n<p>Somebody always has to be the party pooper. In this case, it was an unnamed teammate who spoke to Randy Miller of NJ.com for a story published the same day as the Cy Young Award announcement. According to the source, Skenes has \u201cno confidence the Pirates are ever going to win\u201d during his time with Pittsburgh, and he\u2019s \u201choping for a trade\u201d before he becomes a free agent in 2030. His destination of choice is the Bronx, where the New York Yankees rule, so said the mole. Pirates general manager Ben Cherington was undaunted by the news.<\/p>\n<h3>\u201cI Never Thought I Would Be Up Here\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>When the TV broadcasters told us that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/drabedo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Doug Drabek<\/a>, the last Pirate to win the Cy Young Award, would be announcing the winner, a small grin flashed across Skenes\u2019 face. He knew something was up. Surrounded by family and friends, including his famous girlfriend Livvy Dunne and personal catcher <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/davishe01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Henry Davis<\/a>, Skenes smiled when he got the news, a stark contrast from last year\u2019s stoic reaction to his Rookie of the Year Award. \u201cI got recruited to college as a catcher, kept growing, started pitching, and got better on the mound,\u201d Skenes told the broadcasters with classic understatement. \u201cI never thought I would be up here, never thought I\u2019d be in the major leagues, winning the Cy Young.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Skenes took the award over finalists <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sanchcr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cristopher S\u00e1nchez<\/a> of the Philadelphia Phillies and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/11\/02\/yoshinobu-yamamoto-wins-2025-world-series-mvp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">World Series hero<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yamamyo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> of the Los Angeles Dodgers. S\u00e1nchez took all 30 second-place votes.<\/p>\n<h3>Skubal a Repeat Cy Young Award Winner<\/h3>\n<p>Skubal, who turns 29 next week, was 13-6 for the Wild Card-winning Detroit Tigers. He led the AL with a 2.21 ERA, 2.45 FIP, and 187 ERA+. Surely, Tigers fans chafe when they hear that Skenes is the best pitcher in baseball, and with good reason. The left-handed Skubal led the majors with a 0.891 WHIP, 1.5 walks per nine innings, and a 7.30 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The latter mark was far superior to Skenes\u2019 number. Skubal struck out 32.2 percent of batters faced, while opponents managed only a .200 batting average against him. He joins <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mclaide01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Denny McLain<\/a> as the only Tigers with multiple Cy Young Awards.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Tarik Skubal is the first pitcher to claim back-to-back Cy Young Awards since Jacob deGrom (NL, 2018-19) and the first AL pitcher to do so since Pedro Martinez (1999-2000)! <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/uSJ5ueKbFv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/uSJ5ueKbFv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 MLB (@MLB) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MLB\/status\/1988767776920793554?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">November 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Unlike Skenes, Skubal pitched under the pressures of a pennant race for a team that held a seemingly insurmountable first-place lead in the AL Central Division, only to collapse at the end and settle for a Wild Card berth. After July, Skubal posted a 2.48 ERA as Detroit failed to fend off a challenge from the hard-charging Cleveland Guardians. Those 10 games yielded just a 3-3 record for Skubal, who got a taste of what Skenes\u2019 world is like.<\/p>\n<p>However, as all great pitchers do, Skubal would take matters into his own hands in the Wild Card Series in Cleveland. In Game 1, he pitched 7 2\/3 innings of three-hit, one-run ball in leading the Tigers to a tight 2-1 victory. The Tigers fed off that start to take the series in the maximum three games. Skubal pitched well in the Division Series against the Seattle Mariners, too, giving up three runs in 13 innings. Alas, Seattle won both of those games, sending the Tigers home for the winter.<\/p>\n<h3>Tarik Don\u2019t Like It (Rock the Cashbox, Rock the Cashbox)<\/h3>\n<p>Skubal can be a free agent in 2027 and was reportedly \u201cinsulted\u201d by the Tigers\u2019 offer of an extension. It\u2019s been <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/10\/20\/tigers-tarik-skubal-decision-trade-or-extension\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">reported on these pages<\/a> that the sides are $250 million apart. Skubal is represented by Scott Boras, who\u2019s not known for caving in during negotiations. Whether the sides continue to negotiate or the Tigers begin to test the trade market remains to be seen. Already, rumors are swirling about possible interest from the New York Mets.<\/p>\n<h3>\u201cI\u2019m Proud of Our Team\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Surrounded by a cadre of \u201cfamily, wife, friends, brothers, trainers, [and] Nana,\u201d Skubal greeted the announcement from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/p\/peavyja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jake Peavy<\/a> with a slight smile and a nod, as if he knew it was coming. \u201cIt\u2019s an individual award, obviously, but I\u2019m proud of our team,\u201d Skubal told MLB-TV, deflecting credit. &#8220;I\u2019m proud of the way we competed this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other finalists in the AL were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=brownhu01,brown-006hun,brown-009hun,brown-010hun,brown-008hun&amp;search=Hunter+Brown&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Hunter Brown<\/a> of the Houston Astros and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/crochga01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Garrett Crochet<\/a> of the Boston Red Sox. In a normal year, Crochet, with his 18-5 record and 2.59 ERA, would have been a shoo-in for the award. But with pitchers the caliber of Skenes and Skubal offering competition, 2025 was anything but a normal year.<\/p>\n<h3>One More to Go<\/h3>\n<p>The Most Valuable Player Awards will be announced on the MLB Network on Thursday at 7:00 PM Eastern. The finalists for the AL are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/j\/judgeaa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Aaron Judge<\/a> (Yankees), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/r\/raleica01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cal Raleigh<\/a> (Mariners), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=ramirjo01,ramirjo02&amp;search=Jos\u00e9+Ram\u00edrez&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez<\/a> (Guardians). The NL finalists are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/ohtansh01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shohei Ohtani<\/a> (Dodgers), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schwaky01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Schwarber<\/a> (Phillies), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=sotoju01,soto--004jua&amp;search=Juan+Soto&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-11-12_br\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Juan Soto<\/a> (Mets).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo Credit: \u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are the winners of the 2025 Cy Young Award for their respective leagues. The winners were announced on MLB Network on Wednesday evening. Skenes of the National League\u2019s Pittsburgh Pirates captured all 30 possible first-place votes. Skubal of the American League\u2019s Detroit Tigers, a repeat winner, won 26 first-place votes. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5010,"featured_media":109429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1071,11,35,26],"tags":[28573,5916,2626,3614,4875,5519,5427,6371,3082,6553],"class_list":["post-109409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","category-tigers","category-news","category-pirates","tag-cristopher-sanchez","tag-denny-mclain","tag-doug-drabek","tag-garrett-crochet","tag-henry-davis","tag-hunter-brown","tag-jake-peavy","tag-paul-skenes","tag-tarik-skubal","tag-yoshinobu-yamamoto"],"modified_by":"Lewis Masella, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109409","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5010"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109409"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109409\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":109430,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109409\/revisions\/109430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}