Pirates' Paul Skenes may need to wait two years to win another Cy Young

Pirates' Paul Skenes may need to wait two years to win another Cy Young originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

>The reigning Cy Young Award winner in the National League, Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skenes, has pitched well enough to win the award again. Still, he has not been as great as his division rival, Jacob Misiorowski.

>The Pirates are not helping their ace win the award, as the Pirates have lost seven straight of Skenes starts. To add to his woes, Skenes is not even the second-best pitcher in the National League, as Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez holds that spot.

Paul Skenes will likely have to look to 2027 or 2028 to reclaim his Cy Young AwardAccording to MLB.com's Thomas Harrigan's latest poll of who will win the Cy Young Award in both leagues, Misiorowski received 29 first-place votes and 153 total vote points, far surpassing Skenes, who finished in third. Skenes tallied 55 total vote points and has an ERA of 2.86, while Sanchez (1.80) and Misiorowski (1.45, leading Major League Baseball) have ERAs in the 1.00s.

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>"If Skenes’ performance this season feels like a step back, it’s only because he set such an insanely high bar over his first two years in the Majors," wrote Harrigan. "The right-hander may not be the current favorite to repeat as the NL Cy Young winner, but he’s kept himself in contention with a 2.86 ERA, 107 strikeouts and 18 walks over 88 innings."

>Given how well Misiorowski and Sanchez have pitched, Skenes needs to be perfect every time out to win, and he didn't help himself in two starts in May. In back-to-back starts to the Phillies (May 17) and the Toronto Blue Jays (May 23), the two-time All-Star allowed nine earned runs in 10.0 innings.

>With another half of the season still to go, Skenes does have a chance and what it takes to win, but he may need a miracle. If Skenes doesn't win this season, he may have to wait until 2028 to do so, as the looming work stoppage due to the CBA (Collective Bargaining) negotiations may cause games to be missed in 2027.

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