This just feels right. Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are your 2025 CY Young winners, and if you've watched even a little baseball this year, you're probably nodding your head right now. Let's get right to it with Skenes: the guy pretty much showed up to the big leagues and said, "Yeah, I'm him." The Pirates haven't …
This just feels right. Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal are your 2025 CY Young winners, and if you’ve watched even a little baseball this year, you’re probably nodding your head right now.
Let’s get right to it with Skenes: the guy pretty much showed up to the big leagues and said, “Yeah, I’m him.” The Pirates haven’t seen this kind of excitement since. Honestly, I don’t even know when. Every single start felt like a show. Triple‑digit fastballs, disgusting sliders, and that moustache that just screams “I throw gas.” He finished the year with a 1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 216 strikeouts over about 187 innings – straight‑up video game numbers.
And of course, he’s got Livvy Dunne cheering him on from the stands — baseball’s newest power couple. He’s really living the dream on and off the field as a rookie.
Now let’s talk contract and trade‑stuff for Skenes: He signed a record deal right out of the 2023 draft, with a ~$9.2 million signing bonus. He’s still on team‑control through his pre‑arbitration years and hasn’t locked into a mega‑extension yet — meaning the Pirates have him at a bargain for now, but the clock’s ticking if they want to keep him long term. Trade rumours? Oh yeah — teams have been calling about Skenes, but Pirates GM Ben Cherington made it clear: “Paul Skenes is going to be a Pirate in 2026.” You don’t trade a guy like him unless something dramatic changes.
Then over in Detroit, there’s Tarik Skubal. He finally got the respect he deserved. He’s been building toward this moment for a while, and 2025 was simply his year. A 2.21 ERA, over 200 strikeouts, dominance from start to finish. Calm, confident, totally unbothered by whoever stepped into the box — Skubal was the kind of guy who made hitters question their life choices.
On the contract side for Skubal, he signed a one‑year $10.15 million deal for 2025 to avoid arbitration. He’s set to hit free agency after 2026. The tricky part? He and the Tigers reportedly have a $250 million gap in extension talks — Detroit offered less than $100 million for the deal, Skubal’s camp is aiming for around $350 million. So, whether they lock him in or try to maximize his value before free agency, things are wild.
These two didn’t just win awards-they reminded everyone that baseball’s next era is here: power arms, swagger, young stars who make you actually want to watch pitching highlights. Congrats to both — and if this is the future of pitching, I’m all in.
