Pirates’ right-hander Paul Skenes unanimously won the NL Cy Young award.
Skenes, who finished third in last year’s NL Cy Young Award voting, is the second pitcher to win the award the year after he was named NL Rookie of the Year, duplicating Dwight Gooden’s feat for the Mets in 1984 and ‘85. Fernando Valenzuela is the only pitcher to win both awards in the same season, in 1981 with the Dodgers.
The election marks the 16th time a National League pitcher has been unanimous in the voting. Skenes joins a list featuring Sandy Koufax three times (1963, ‘65-66), Greg Maddux twice (1994-95) and once each by Sandy Alcantara (2022), Clayton Kershaw (2014), Roy Halladay (2010), Jake Peavy (2007), Randy Johnson (2002), Orel Hershiser (1988), Gooden (1985), Rick Sutcliffe (1984), Steve Carlton (1972) and Bob Gibson (1968). The American League has had a unanimous winner 12 times: Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana and Justin Verlander twice each; Denny McLain, Ron Guidry, Gerrit Cole and Tarik Skubal once apiece.
Skenes becomes the seventh former NL Rookie of the Year recipient to win the Cy Young Award, joining Valenzuela, Gooden, Don Newcombe, Rick Sucliffe, three-time Cy Young Award winner Tom Seaver and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom. The only former AL Rookie of the Year Award recipient to emerge victorious in Cy Young Award voting is three-time winner Justin Verlander.
This marks the third time a Pirates pitcher has won the Cy Young Award. Skenes joins Vernon Law (1960) and Doug Drabek (1990).
With his 10-10 record, Skenes matches deGrom’s 10-9 mark in 2018 for the Mets as the fewest number of victories for a Cy Young Award-winning starting pitcher in a full season.
Since the BBWAA went to a five-player ballot format for the Cy Young Award in 2010, this is the first time the winner received all the first-place votes and the runner-up all the second-place votes. Skenes and the Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez were the only pitchers named on every ballot.
Ballots were cast prior to postseason play. They are tabulated on a system that rewards seven points for first place, four points for second place, three points for third place, two votes for fourth place and one point for fifth place.
2025 NL Cy Young
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | Points | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Skenes, Pirates | 30 | 210 | ||||
| Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies | 30 | 120 | ||||
| Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers | 16 | 11 | 2 | 72 | ||
| Logan Webb, Giants | 10 | 6 | 5 | 47 | ||
| Freddy Peralta, Brewers | 4 | 11 | 10 | 44 | ||
| Nick Pivetta, Padres | 7 | 7 | ||||
| Jesús Luzardo, Phillies | 1 | 3 | 5 | |||
| Andrew Abbott, Reds | 1 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Zack Wheeler, Phillies | 1 | 1 |
Below is a breakdown of the 30 individual ballots, submitted by two writers representing each city in the National League. For more information on the voting, see our Voting FAQ.
| Name | Affiliation | Chapter | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Odum | The Associated Press | ATL | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Abbott | Peralta |
| Kiley McDaniel | ESPN | ATL | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Webb | Wheeler |
| Steve Gilbert | MLB.com | AZ | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Webb |
| Nick Piecoro | The Arizona Republic | AZ | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Pivetta |
| Sahadev Sharma | The Athletic | CHI | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Peralta |
| Jordan Bastian | MLB.com | CHI | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Peralta |
| Pat Brennan | Cincinnati Enquirer | CIN | Skenes | Sánchez | Peralta | Yamamoto | Abbott |
| C. Trent Rosecrans | The Athletic | CIN | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Abbott |
| Manny Randhawa | MLB.com | COL | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Webb | Peralta |
| Kevin Henry | Denver Gazette | COL | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Webb |
| Sonja Chen | MLB.com | LA | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Webb | Peralta |
| Fabian Ardaya | The Athletic | LA | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Webb |
| Daniel Álvarez-Montes | El Extrabase | MIA | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Webb | Luzardo |
| Christina De Nicola | MLB.com | MIA | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Pivetta |
| Adam McCalvy | MLB.com | MIL | Skenes | Sánchez | Peralta | Yamamoto | Webb |
| Curt Hogg | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | MIL | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Webb | Peralta |
| Tim Britton | The Athletic | NY | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Peralta |
| Jon Heyman | NY Post | NY | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Pivetta |
| Lochlahn March | The Philadelphia Inquirer | PHI | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Webb |
| Todd Zolecki | MLB.com | PHI | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Peralta |
| John Perrotto | :Pittsburgh Baseball Now | PIT | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Webb | Peralta |
| Noah Hiles | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | PIT | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Peralta | Yamamoto |
| Dennis Lin | The Athletic | SD | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Pivetta |
| Jeff Sanders | San Diego Union-Tribune | SD | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Luzardo |
| John Shea | San Francisco Standard | SF | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Yamamoto | Peralta |
| Susan Slusser | San Francisco Chronicle | SF | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Peralta | Luzardo |
| Lynn Worthy | St. Louis Post-Dispatch | STL | Skenes | Sánchez | Webb | Luzardo | Yamamoto |
| Katie Woo | The Athletic | STL | Skenes | Sánchez | Peralta | Yamamoto | Pivetta |
| Bobby Blanco | MASNsports.com | WAS | Skenes | Sánchez | Peralta | Yamamoto | Pivetta |
| Ken Rosenthal | The Athletic | WAS | Skenes | Sánchez | Yamamoto | Peralta | Pivetta |