Cy Young Winners?

A few weeks ago, I watched a game on TV. It was a game with 2 Cy Young favorites on the mound. Paul Skenes started the game for the Pirates. He threw 6.1 innings and struck out 9 batters. Skenes didn’t allow any walks or runs in the game. At the same time, Yoshinobu Yamamoto took the mound for the Dodgers. Yamamoto tossed 5 innings, giving 3 runs (1 earned) with 5 strikeouts and 4 walks.

 

In the end, Paul Skenes took the win. Yamamoto’s performance wasn’t that bad, but he took the loss. After watching the game, I was just thinking about some questions. With 2 Cy Young favorites on the mound, when was the last time that a pitcher from the Pirates won the NL Cy Young award? Additionally, how about the last pitcher who won the Cy Young award as a Dodger?

 

Well, after checking on the MLB website, the answers came clear. It’s not so difficult to answer the question about the last pitcher who won the NL Cy Young award in the Dodgers uniform. That pitcher is Clayton Kershaw, who’s a 3-time Cy Young award winner. In 2014, Kershaw made 27 starts, posting a 1.77 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP over 198.1 innings. With 21 wins in 2014, he was a unanimous choice. Additionally, Kershaw won the 2014 NL MVP award.

 

However, it took a little bit of time to find out the last Cy Young award winner who wore the Pirates uniform. Back in 1990, Doug Drabek made 33 starts for the Pirates, tossing 231.1 innings with a 2.76 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP. He earned 22 wins and threw 131 strikeouts in that season. It was the only time that Drabek finished a season with 20+ wins. Well, Drabek didn’t win the NL MVP award in 1990. Nonetheless, the 1990 NL MVP award winner was a player in the Pirates uniform. That player is Barry Bonds, who slashed .301/.406/.565 with 33 home runs, 114 RBI and 52 stolen bases over 151 games.

 

As we can see, it actually has been a while since we saw a Cy Young award winner from these 2 teams. Kershaw won his last Cy Young award 10+ years ago. Moreover, it’s been more than 30 years since we saw a pitcher from the Pirates win the NL Cy Young award.

 

By far this season, Paul Skenes has done a great job. He already made 10 starts, posting a 2.44 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP over 62.2 innings. He now has 62 strikeouts. In the meantime, Yoshinobu Yamamoto made 10 starts for the Dodgers. He owns a 1.86 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP over 58 innings. Yamamoto struck out 68 batters thus far. They certainly have been solid on the mound so far this season and their teams have relied on them. With 4 months remaining in the 2025 season, it will be very interesting to see whether they will still be dominant on the mound. But we have to remember 2 things. It's Paul Skenes’ first full season in the majors. And Yamamoto didn’t reach 100 innings last season. So, a key thing is that they have to stay healthy and pitch consistently.