Is the Tigers Ace Bound to Win His Second Straight AL Cy Young Award?
With the second half of the 2025 MLB season in full swing, and as teams vie for playoff spots and seeding in the final two months of the regular season, the chase for several yearly awards is heating up in both the AL and NL. Several players have strong cases for walking away with hardware at season’s end. One of the most coveted annual honors that nearly every pitcher dreams of winning is the Cy Young Award. Last season in the American League, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal earned his first Cy Young in his young MLB career. Now, just eight months later, the 28-year-old is making another serious bid to repeat, something that hasn’t been accomplished since Pedro Martinez in 2000.
According to ESPN Bet, Tarik Skubal currently holds -240 odds to win his second consecutive Cy Young Award. That’s largely due to another dominant season in the Motor City. Through 20 starts, Skubal has posted a 10-3 record, tied for seventh best, a 2.19 ERA, which ranks second best, 164 strikeouts, tied for the second most, and a league-leading 0.81 WHIP. The next closest challengers looking to deny Skubal a repeat are Garrett Crochet, Jacob deGrom, and Hunter Brown. However, that could prove to be a difficult task, as Skubal has shown no signs of slowing down heading into the stretch run of the regular season.
Following a surprise playoff appearance in 2024, when the Tigers ended a playoff drought that started after 2014 and upset the Houston Astros in the AL Wild Card Series, Tarik Skubal and the team are now aiming for a deeper postseason run. With a 60-44 record, the sixth best in MLB, and a comfortable eight-game lead over the second-place Cleveland Guardians in the AL Central, the Tigers are in a strong position to chase both team success and individual accolades. Skubal, currently enjoying the best stretch of his Major League career over the past two seasons, has played a major role in Detroit’s rise. The Tigers know the importance of capitalizing on the talents of their phenom, and bringing home a World Series title would be a major step in that direction. Regardless of how Detroit’s season ultimately ends, Skubal appears destined to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards.
