NL Cy – Entering Thursday, six NL pitchers had thrown at least 50 innings with a sub-2.00 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning—an in-season benchmark no league has matched at a comparable point. The American League has Cam Schlittler out front, but the NL’s conten
By the time Thursday arrived, the National League’s Cy Young race didn’t just feel crowded—it felt stacked in a way the sport hasn’t often seen.
Entering Thursday. six NL pitchers had thrown at least 50 innings with a sub-2.00 ERA and striking out more than a batter per inning. That’s not a vague “strong season” kind of depth. It’s a specific benchmark. and through the same portion of the schedule. from 1967—when the Cy Young was first awarded to a pitcher from each league—through 2025. there had never been a year when one league had that many pitchers meet those marks. MLB teams, on average, have played 56 games in 2026, making the timing matter.
The American League has a clear figure at the front: the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler. But in the NL, the leaderboard looks less like a list and more like a pile of overlapping cases—each one backed by numbers that keep getting sharper as the season moves.
Sánchez hasn’t just held his form—he’s surged
Last year’s NL runner-up. Sánchez. has spent the last four weeks without giving up a run. After placing second in the NL Cy Young Award race with a 2.50 ERA and 212 strikeouts over 202 innings. he’s carried that momentum into 2026 with a level that forces attention.
He leads all qualifiers in ERA (1.47) and FIP (1.81), and he has the third-most WAR (3.3, per FanGraphs) of any player.
For Shohei Ohtani, the mound is now fully open
Shohei Ohtani’s path to this point has been about control and timing. After making a strong return to the mound last season—after spending 2024 solely as a DH—the Dodgers were careful not to overwork his surgically repaired right arm.
This season, though, Ohtani has been “fully unleashed” as a pitcher.
After throwing six innings of no-hit ball against the Rockies on Wednesday. Ohtani owns a 0.82 ERA with a .147 opponents’ batting average over 55 innings in 2026. Excluding openers. that’s tied for the fourth-lowest ERA a pitcher has recorded through nine starts since earned runs became official in 1913. He doesn’t have enough innings to qualify for the ERA title. but there are no such requirements for Cy Young consideration.
And then there’s the velocity component—because even among today’s elite, Ohtani’s dominance doesn’t look casual.
Jacob Misiorowski is chasing 300 strikeouts
Brewers flamethrower Jacob Misiorowski has been the kind of starter who makes hitters look like they’re reacting late—again and again.
Facing the Cardinals his last time out, he touched triple-digits 57 times, 10 more than any other pitcher since the pitch tracking era began in 2008. He also recorded the fastest strikeout (103.4 mph) by a starting pitcher in that timeframe, breaking his own mark of 103.3 mph set on May 8.
Misiorowski tied a career high with 12 strikeouts against St. Louis. He reached double figures for the third time in four starts. becoming the first pitcher to notch 100 K’s this season. He has struck out more than 40% of the batters he’s faced and has a chance to become the first pitcher to reach the 300-strikeout plateau since Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander did it in 2019.
His ERA sits at 1.83, including a 0.29 ERA in May.
Chris Sale’s Cy Young-caliber start is arriving early—and that’s the problem for everyone else
A normal season would have Braves left-hander Chris Sale leading the race with a 1.89 ERA, 72 K’s and a .181 opponents’ batting average over 10 starts.
Even in a season that didn’t get compared to his best, those numbers would be hard to ignore.
But Sale is off to an even stronger start than the year he won it. Those numbers are. by and large. better than what Sale had through 10 starts two years ago. when he won the NL pitching Triple Crown and captured the first Cy Young Award of his career. Right now. though. the sheer volume of other exceptional seasons makes it feel like Sale might not even be an NL finalist.
The Brewers and the Reds aren’t just participating—they’re threatening to break the conversation wide open
The Cy Young conversation isn’t limited to the headline names.
Misiorowski isn’t the only Brewers starter in contention. There’s also Kyle Harrison, Milwaukee’s latest pitching success story. A former top prospect on his third team. Harrison had a 4.39 ERA in 42 games (37 starts) for the Giants and Red Sox from 2023-25—but he has blossomed into a dominant force with the Crew.
The 24-year-old left-hander has thrown 18 scoreless innings over his past three starts to lower his ERA to 1.57 with 61 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings this season.
Meanwhile, the Reds’ Chase Burns—23 years old and a former No. 2 overall Draft pick with electric stuff—has barely registered in the NL Cy Young conversation so far.
Burns possesses elite velocity and has struck out 50 batters with his slider, the most any pitcher has recorded on a single breaking pitch in 2026. He has a 1.19 ERA in May and a 1.96 ERA over 64 1/3 innings on the year.
And even when voters are thinking about the usual frontline candidates, a pitcher like Zack Wheeler can complicate the plot. The Phillies’ Wheeler has returned from thoracic outlet decompression surgery looking as good as ever. Missing a month of action to start 2026 won’t help his Cy Young case in the standings. but through six starts he has a 1.67 ERA—and he could make things interesting if he keeps pitching like this.
Even the bullpen picture is shifting the mood
Relievers rarely win the Cy Young—no reliever has won the award since Eric Gagne in 2003. With so many worthy starters around the NL this year, that drought is poised to continue.
But the reigning NL Cy Young winner is in the mix in his own way.
Paul Skenes, the Pirates right-hander, is supposed to be untouchable. By the standards he set over his first two seasons, his 2026 has been a disappointment. He has given up nine earned runs in his past two starts, causing his ERA to jump to 3.00.
At the same time, Skenes leads all qualifiers in WHIP (0.82) and K/BB ratio (7.22). He also has the third-best expected ERA (2.40) of anyone who has faced at least 200 batters this season. No one is going to be surprised if he’s back at the head of the line a month from now.
The depth isn’t just a talking point anymore—it’s showing up in the math. When six pitchers meet those thresholds through a comparable point in the year. and there are more names pressing in from every direction. the NL Cy Young race stops being a single race. It becomes a test of who can stay flawless while everyone else around them is also still rising.
NL Cy Young race National League Shohei Ohtani Jacob Misiorowski Sánchez Chris Sale Kyle Harrison Chase Burns Zack Wheeler Paul Skenes Cam Schlittler