Pirates ace Paul Skenes wins first Cy Young Award and Tigers star Tarik Skubal goes back-to-back

Paul Skenes’ meteoric rise to the top is complete.

The young Pittsburgh Pirates ace was a unanimous choice for the National League Cy Young Award on Wednesday night, becoming the first pitcher in 40 years to win Rookie of the Year one season and baseball’s premier pitching prize the next.

Detroit left-hander Tarik Skubal took home his second straight American League Cy Young Award minutes earlier, joining elite company after another spectacular season in which he helped propel the Tigers to a playoff berth.

“I think a lot of it is not being complacent with who I am today,” Skubal said. “I still think there’s more to tap into. I don’t think this is the finished version of myself.”

The 23-year-old Skenes – selected first overall by the Pirates in the 2023 amateur draft after a standout career at Air Force and LSU – was a marvel for the last-place Pirates, leading the majors in ERA (1.97) while striking out 216 batters in 187 1/3 innings during his first full season in the big leagues.

Yet even with his brilliance, Skenes needed a little late help from Pittsburgh’s woeful offense to avoid becoming the first Cy Young-winning starting pitcher to finish with a losing record. Skenes won three of his final four decisions to finish 10-10.

Dwight Gooden is the only other pitcher to win Rookie of the Year and a Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons, doing it in the NL for the New York Mets in 1984 and 1985. Los Angeles Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela swept both NL awards in 1981.

Vern Law in 1960 and Doug Drabek in 1990 are the only other Pirates to win the Cy Young Award since it was introduced in 1956.

Skenes was picked atop all 30 ballots by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Philadelphia left-hander Cristopher Sánchez received every second-place vote, and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Los Angeles Dodgers finished third.

Sánchez’s 2029 option price increased by $1 million to $15 million and his 2030 option price by $1 million to $16 million as a result of being a Cy Young Award finalist.

Skubal received 26 first-place votes in the AL from a separate BBWAA panel. The other four went to runner-up Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox. Hunter Brown of the Houston Astros came in third.

The 28-year-old Skubal became the 12th hurler to win baseball’s top pitching honor in back-to-back years, joining a group that includes Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martínez.

Jacob deGrom was the previous pitcher to win consecutive Cy Youngs, pulling off the feat with the New York Mets in 2018 and 2019. Martínez was the last American League pitcher to do it, in 1999 and 2000 for Boston.

“You want to win this award as many times as you can in your career, but I’d gladly trade a Cy Young for a World Series,” Skubal said.

Skubal was 13-6 with an AL-leading 2.21 ERA and 240 strikeouts in 195 1/3 innings during the regular season. Then he went 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA in three playoff starts for Detroit, which was eliminated by Seattle in their Division Series.

Crochet led the American League in innings (205 1/3) and strikeouts (255).

A year after taking a massive step forward by winning the AL pitching Triple Crown on his way to being a unanimous Cy Young winner, Skubal backed it up by serving as the anchor for the Tigers during a volatile season in which they squandered a 15 1/2-game lead in the AL Central and were caught by Cleveland down the stretch.

The Tigers got a bit of revenge in the wild-card round, beating the division-champion Guardians in three games thanks in large part to a 14-strikeout gem by Skubal in the series opener.

Skubal’s historic run comes with him set to enter free agency after the 2026 season. Considering the massive contract he could command on the open market, it’s uncertain whether he’ll stay with the Tigers beyond next season.

“I’ve given everything I have to this organization. I want to be a Tiger for a very, very long time,” Skubal said. “I’m just going to do what I do and not really focus on any of that stuff.”

Skenes and Skubal both started the All-Star Game this year. The only other time the All-Star Game starters won the two Cy Young Awards in the same season was 2001, when Johnson and Roger Clemens accomplished the feat.

MVP awards for both leagues will be handed out Thursday.

Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani is a heavy favorite to repeat in the NL and win for the fourth time overall, including twice in the AL.

New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge is seeking his third AL MVP in what could be a close vote with another top contender, Seattle catcher Cal Raleigh.