May 11, 2026
·Brandon Gustafson
Sluggers and offense always dominate MLB headlines, but at the end of the day, elite pitching can be the difference between winning it all and falling short.
We see a ton of awesome pitching on a daily basis in today’s MLB as starters seem to be throwing harder with nastier secondary pitches every single year, and I, for one, am here for it.
So let’s check out which arms stand out as legitimate AL and NL Cy Young candidates so far this season. It should be noted that the American League in particular is awfully interesting considering Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is on the injured list and will miss at least a few months while last year’s runner-up Garrett Crochet is also on the injured list after a slow start that saw his ERA balloon to 6.30.
MLB Cy Young watch: Who are the top 2026 candidates right now?
With SeatGeek serving as the Official Ticket Marketplace of MLB, we’ve been keeping a close eye on all the top starting pitchers the league has to offer, and we’ve picked our five early favorites for the Cy Young Award in each league.
American League Cy Young favorites
1. Cam Schlittler, New York Yankees
The Yankees have always been known for their slugging, hence the Bronx Bombers nickname, but good lord do they have some incredible pitching depth right now. Max Fried (more on him later) has been excellent, Will Warren is a fantastic young arm, Carlos Rodon returned to the mound on Sunday and ace Gerrit Cole is expected back soon.
And then there’s the youngster Cam Schlittler, who is, in my opinion, the best pitcher in the American League right now. After six scoreless innings against the Brewers on Saturday, Schlittler is the proud owner of a 1.35 ERA, 0.810 WHIP and 59 strikeouts in 53 1/3 innings across nine starts. He’s given up three runs in two of his starts and one or fewer in each of his other seven outings. Schlittler has elite velocity, keeps hitters off the barrel and gets a ton of chase while throwing some form of fastball essentially 90% of the time between his 4-seamer, sinker and cutter.
The Yankees suddenly have a ton of depth atop the rotation, and Schlittler may well be the best of the bunch – even when Cole is back at 100%.
2. Jose Soriano, Los Angeles Angels
No pitcher had a better start to their year than Soriano, who gave up just one run in 37 2/3 innings (0.24 ERA) across his first six starts – all of which were Angels wins. His final April start and first May start were each rough, however, as the new Angels ace gave up eight runs over nine innings.
Soriano appears to be back to his early form, though, as he fired seven innings of one-run ball against the Blue Jays on Sunday to lower his season ERA to 1.66. Soriano is striking out more batters than ever before while showcasing elite groundball rates and good hard-hit numbers, and there’s a good case to be made for him over Schlittler at this point – it’s very close.
3. Max Fried, New York Yankees
The Yankees signed Fried ahead of the 2025 season to be an elite No. 2 option behind Cole. Well, Cole has yet to pitch for New York with Fried as a teammate, and Fried has been an absolute monster for the Yankees since donning the pinstripes.
After a 2.86 ERA and fourth-place finish in AL Cy Young voting in 2025, Fried has been even better to start 2026. The tall southpaw boasts a 2.39 ERA and sparkling 0.892 WHIP. He’s also allowing just 5.5 hits per nine innings to go along with a minuscule 0.2 HR/9 clip.
What hurts Fried’s case is the start of his own teammate in Schlittler. But with Schlittler and Fried off to elite starts and Warren spinning it well to begin 2026, this Yankees rotation looks awfully dangerous considering Rodon returned on Sunday and Cole is expected back soon.
4. Dylan Cease, Toronto Blue Jays
Cease was one of the biggest winners of the 2025-26 offseason, signing a seven-year, $210 million deal to join the Blue Jays, who were fresh off a World Series run. The Jays have started off slow at 17-21, but that has hardly been Cease’s fault. After seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts on Friday against the Angels, Cease owns a 2.58 ERA and is top five in strikeouts with 66 (13.1 K/9).
One early concern with Cease was he wasn’t working particularly deep in games, going less than six innings in five of his first six starts. He’s gone seven innings in his last two outings, though. So far, the Jays’ investment is paying off. They just need the bats to get going.
5. Nick Martinez, Tampa Bay Rays
This final spot was a toss-up of sorts between Martinez and Guardians rookie Parker Messick for me, but I give the slight edge to the veteran. Martinez has been an absolute godsend for a Rays team that, even when at the height of their powers, hasn’t always gotten the most innings from their starting pitching.
Martinez, who bounced between the Reds’ rotation and bullpen the last two years, has pitched 47 2/3 innings over his first eight starts of 2026 with a dazzling 1.70 ERA. He’s pitched six or more innings in half of his starts and has worked into the sixth two other times. Martinez has also allowed no more than two runs in any of his eight outings this year, giving up one or no runs six times.
Martinez is a throwback arm, of sorts, as he sits in the low-90s with the heater and specializes in pounding the zone (10 walks this year) and minimizing hard contact (82nd percentile average exit velocity and 91st percentile in hard-hit rate). It really doesn’t matter how you’re getting outs when you’re having the success Martinez has had, and the Rays are 7-1 in his starts. He’s been a major part of Tampa’s surprisingly great start to the 2026 season.
National League Cy Young favorites
1. Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
Skenes’ early-season numbers for the Pirates are fantastic – a 2.36 ERA with 46 strikeouts across 42 innings in eight starts. What makes those numbers even more impressive is that Skenes, thanks in large part to a misplay by center fielder Oneil Cruz, allowed five runs and got just two outs on Opening Day. Since then, the reigning NL Cy Young winner has given up just six total runs over his last seven starts with a minuscule 1.31 ERA.
In 2026, Skenes has done what he’s done each of the last two years, which is eat innings, get batters out and minimize traffic and runs allowed. He’s been especially great in terms of keeping runners off the bases, as he owns a ridiculous 0.714 WHIP, the best in baseball. His 4.9 H/9 ratio would be the lowest of his career, as would his 1.5 BB/9 ratio, which is among the best in MLB.
Skenes is off to a record-setting start to his career, and it would surprise absolutely no one if he won his second Cy Young in a row. At this stage, he’s the favorite to do so for a lot of reasons.
2. Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
Ohtani has won MVP in four of his last five seasons played, and he did so in 2024 while not pitching a single inning and again in 2025 while pitching only 47 innings. Now, Ohtani is not just the frontrunner for his fourth MVP campaign in a row, but he’s among the top contenders for NL Cy Young.
It’s interesting that Ohtani has been this good on the mound this year since it’s easy to forget that many analysts questioned his bat – not his arm – when he joined MLB in 2017 as a two-way sensation. But injuries have limited Ohtani’s innings. That’s not the case this year, as Ohtani has six starts and 37 innings under his belt with a 0.97 ERA, 0.811 WHIP, 10.2 K/9, 5.1 H/9, 2.2 BB/9 and 0.5 HR/9. He also has allowed two or fewer runs in all six of his outings, with one or fewer given up four times.
Will the Dodgers utilizing a six-man rotation hurt Ohtani’s standing when it comes to Cy Young voting? Perhaps. But if he continues to dominate hitters at a six-inning clip like he has then he’ll be awfully hard to ignore – not that you can really ignore Ohtani’s greatness at this point.
3. Jacob Misiorowski, Milwaukee Brewers
When the Brewers traded Freddy Peralta to the Mets, there was a lot of pressure on Misiorowski to produce as the team’s top starter. He’s been everything the Brewers have needed and then some in Year 2 of his career and his first full season of MLB action.
Misiorowski leads MLB with 70 strikeouts after punching out 11 Yankees in six scoreless innings on Friday, and he’s done so in just 44 innings – good for a ridiculous 14.3 K/9 rate as a starting pitcher. Misiorowski has a 2.45 ERA and 0.955 WHIP over his first eight starts, and the young flamethrower hasn’t allowed more than three runs in a single outing this year.
The future is now in Milwaukee, as Misiorowski appears to be establishing himself as a premier arm right out of the gate at just 24 years old. There are few pitchers you’d take over Misiorowski to win a single game right now.
4. Chris Sale, Atlanta Braves
Like the entire Braves team, the 2024 NL Cy Young winner has dazzled in the early stages of 2026. Sale was one of many Atlanta stars who missed considerable time in what was a disappointing 2025 season for the Braves, though Sale was stellar across 21 starts.
In eight starts in 2026, Sale owns a low 2.20 ERA and 0.878 WHIP with 56 strikeouts over 49 innings (10.3 K/9). And outside of his third start where he allowed six runs over four innings, Sale has allowed two or fewer earned runs in each of the other seven starts and one or none six times. The Braves have the best pitching staff in the National League to begin 2026, and Sale looks like a Cy Young contender once again.
5. Clay Holmes, New York Mets
There were a few options I was debating putting here, namely Bryce Elder, Chase Burns, Shota Imanaga and Cristopher Sanchez. Heck, I even considered star Padres closer Mason Miller given how incredible his 2026 has been thus far. But ultimately I opted for Holmes, who has been a much-needed bright spot for a Mets team that’s seen basically everything else go wrong in 2026.
Holmes signed with the Mets as a starter after years of relief work for the Yankees, and the decision paid off instantly. He was an All-Star with a 3.53 ERA over 33 games (31 starts) after serving as a steady force in the Yankees’ bullpen. He’s been even better this year with an excellent 1.86 ERA and .190 opponent batting average in eight starts and 48 1/3 innings. Holmes was great once again on Saturday, allowing two runs over 5 2/3 against Arizona, but he took the loss as the Mets scored just one run. Regardless, Holmes has looked like one of the best the National League has to offer early this season.