Brewers ace takes Cy Young and title in same season, a feat not done since 2001

Jacob Misiorowski and Cam Schlittler received unanimous votes for the 2026 Cy Young awards on Wednesday. The National League honor went to the Milwaukee Brewers pitcher, who collected all 30 first-place ballots. Cristopher Sanchez of Philadelphia and Chris Sale of Atlanta finished second and third in the NL race. In the American League, Schlittler of the New York Yankees swept the voting, with Dylan Cease of Toronto and Parker Messick of Cleveland placing behind him.

Misiorowski, 24, led baseball with a 1.80 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 252 strikeouts across 174⅔ innings. His 16-5 record and 6.6 fWAR topped his peers, while his 232 ERA+ stood as the highest mark for a full season since Pedro Martinez posted 291 in 2000. These numbers anchored a Milwaukee squad that finished with a major league best 103 wins and the World Series trophy.

Velocity defined Misiorowski's 2026 campaign. His fastball averaged 100.6 mph, and he threw more than 1,000 pitches at 100 mph or faster. That total more than doubled the record Jordan Hicks set in 2018. A 105.5 mph fastball thrown against Pete Crow-Armstrong in June set the fastest pitch by a starter in the Statcast era. After a slow start with a 3.31 ERA in April, he lowered that mark to 1.46 over his final 24 starts.

The 24-year-old right-hander joined Corbin Burnes, Pete Vuckovich and Rollie Fingers as Brewers Cy Young winners. He also became the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2001 to claim the award and the World Series in the same year. His June 12 game against Philadelphia featured a one-hit shutout, 15 strikeouts and no walks.

Cam Schlittler, 25, earned the AL award with a 14-6 record and a 1.95 ERA over 193⅔ innings. He led the league with 239 strikeouts and a 6.2 fWAR. Opponents scored just one run or fewer in 21 of his starts, and his road ERA was 1.16 across 17 appearances. The Yankees' pitching staff recorded the lowest ERA in the majors despite long absences for Gerrit Cole, Max Fried and Carlos Rodon.

Schlittler is the seventh Cy Young winner in Yankees history and the first since Cole won in 2023. Drafted in the seventh round out of Northeastern in 2022, he added velocity through delivery changes and increased muscle mass. His four-seam fastball averaged 98 mph in 2026, complemented by a cutter, sinker and curveball. Only Spud Chandler and Ron Guidry have posted lower ERAs as qualified Yankees starters.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America also introduced Reliever of the Year awards for the first time. Mason Miller of San Diego won the NL prize unanimously after posting a 1.67 ERA, 38 saves and 129 strikeouts in 70 innings. His strikeout rate of 47.6% ranked sixth all time among pitchers with at least 50 innings, and his 101.4 mph average fastball velocity was the highest in baseball. Louis Varland of Toronto won the AL award with 16 first-place votes, a 1.27 ERA, and 35 saves in 78 innings.