2026 MLB Cy Young Race — Final AL & NL Rankings by NUT
Cy Young voting rewards the pitcher, but ERA and win-loss records credit a lot of things the pitcher does not control — the defense behind him, the sequence his hits arrived in, the run support he got. NUT strips those out. It grades a pitcher on the three outcomes he owns almost entirely: strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed.
The regular season is over, and these are the final numbers. Jacob Misiorowski finished as the top pitcher in baseball by NUT at +4.0, 0.5 ahead of the next National League starter. In the American League, Cam Schlittler passed Dylan Cease and finished first at +3.6. Voters weigh more than one number, so read these as where each pitcher finished by NUT, not as a ballot.
NL Cy Young — Starters by NUT
Jacob Misiorowski finished at +4.0, the highest of any pitcher in baseball, 0.5 ahead of Chris Sale. The case is 252 strikeouts against 44 walks, a 0.80 WHIP, and a 1.80 ERA that his underlying numbers support rather than flatter.
Tarik Skubal was traded from Detroit to the Dodgers mid-season. His +3.0 covers the full season across both clubs; he is listed with the club he finished with.
Where the Win Column Misleads
Cristopher Sánchez went 18-7, the most wins on this board, and in a lot of years that record would headline a Cy Young campaign. By NUT he finished third, at +3.2.
Wins measure a team. Sánchez threw 207 innings, more than anyone here, and pitched well across all of them — but Misiorowski struck out 21 more hitters in 32.1 fewer innings. Chase Burns makes the same point at the other end: 15-3 is a spectacular record, and it comes with 56 walks and a +1.6 NUT that puts him ninth, one spot off this board.
AL Cy Young — Starters by NUT
In August this race was 0.2 apart with Cease in front. It finished 0.5 apart with Cam Schlittler first, +3.6 to Dylan Cease’s +3.1.
They finished with the same 239 strikeouts. Schlittler got there in 24.2 more innings with 29 fewer walks, a 0.92 WHIP to Cease's 1.10. That is the margin.
The Paul Skenes Question
Paul Skenes finished 10-11 with a 3.82 ERA, and the award conversation moved on from him entirely. NUT has him eighth among NL starters at +1.7, a B.
The split comes from what each number counts. Skenes struck out 200 hitters in 174.1 innings, a rate in line with Cristopher Sánchez's 231 in 207. His ERA says the runs scored anyway. When a strikeout rate and a run-prevention number disagree this sharply, the usual culprits are defense and sequencing, neither of which is the pitcher's doing. That does not make him a Cy Young candidate this year. It does mean the drop was smaller than the record makes it look.
The Relievers NUT Rates Highly
Mason Miller finished at +2.4 in 70 innings, which would place him sixth among NL starters if he were on that board. He is not on it, because NUT is a counting measure — it accumulates, so 70 dominant innings and 175 dominant innings are not the same argument even when the rate is similar. The number does not argue he belongs ahead of the starters. It does say Miller was the most effective pitcher per inning in the National League.
One more name worth flagging: Shohei Ohtani has a +1.5 NUT on the mound alone in 85.2 innings, separate from anything his bat has done. That combination is the subject of the MVP race, not this one.
How NUT Grades a Pitcher
Pitching NUT is built from strikeouts, walks, and home runs allowed, scaled to runs and then to a single number where 0.0 is a league-average pitcher. Defense is removed on purpose. A pitcher with elite outfielders behind him will post a better ERA than an identical pitcher without them, and Cy Young voting has historically rewarded that difference as if the pitcher earned it.
Every value on this page carries a letter grade on the same scale the app uses everywhere — S, A, B, C, D, F. If you want the mechanics, start with What Is the NUT Score or What Is FIP, which covers the defense-independent idea NUT's pitching side is built on.
Both races are final. Postseason NUT is tracked separately on the Stats page’s postseason board, and the full final rankings for starters and relievers are on Best Starting Pitchers and Best Relief Pitchers.