Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale and Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal won the Cy Young Awards for the best pitchers in their respective leagues, MLB announced Tuesday.
Sale won the National League honor, while Skubal won the American League’s. Both won their respective league’s Triple Crowns this season, leading the NL and the AL in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
Sale went 18-3 in his first season for the Braves, striking out 225 batters with a 2.38 ERA. Sale is the first NL player to win the pitching Triple Crown since 2011.
Skubal also became the first AL player to win the pitching Triple Crown in a full season since 2011. His numbers were eerily similar to Sale’s — an 18-4 record with 228 strikeouts and a 2.39 ERA.
Sale, 35, has long been one of MLB’s great pitchers. From 2012 to 2018, he finished in the top six in Cy Young voting every season. He was second in 2017 and third in 2014.
Injuries affected Sale at the start of this decade, however, as he missed the entire 2020 season after he underwent Tommy John surgery, then made only 11 starts combined the next two years.
The Boston Red Sox traded Sale to the Braves in December — also sending Atlanta $17 million, effectively paying his salary this season. Atlanta, in a show of confidence in Sale’s health, signed him to a two-year, $38 million extension in January.
Sale spent the first seven years of his career with the Chicago White Sox before he played six seasons with the Red Sox.
Skubal, 28, overcame his own injury issues to put together his finest professional season. He pitched only 80 1/3 innings in 2023 after he underwent flexor tendon surgery the year before — though he won AL Pitcher of the Month in September 2023.
In late April, Skubal became the first Tigers pitcher with over 40 strikeouts and fewer than nine walks through his first six starts.
Skubal is eligible this offseason after he played last season on a one-year, $2.65 million contract. He can hit free agency after the 2026 season, though Detroit can try to sign him to an extension before then.
