Ranking the top three 2025 AL Cy Young Award candidates

Last season, Detroit Tigers’ ace Tarik Skubal won the AL Cy Young Award resoundingly, nabbing a rare pitching triple crown. This year, the contest is a little tighter.

Now, into the home stretch of the 2025 MLB season, there are three AL Cy Young contenders that stand above the rest, each pitching for a team well within the postseason picture. As things stand today, it seems the Cy Young race could come down to a matter of splitting hairs, but with almost two months of baseball left to play, there is still time for a shakeup. 

Will the reigning Cy Young prevail or give way to one of the up-and-coming rising stars? This is how the AL Cy Young race is currently shaping up in the top three.

LHP Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox

In his first year with the Boston Red Sox, Crochet has gone from high-potential strikeout artist to Cy Young front-runner. It was just last season when the rising southpaw posted a 3.58 ERA with 209 strikeouts in 146 innings, making 32 starts with the White Sox, though he had never started a major-league game before.

Now, after a quick change of Sox, Crochet has become one of the most dominant starters in baseball. He currently owns a 2.24 ERA with 183 strikeouts, an opponent batting average of .218 and 13 wins in 148.2 innings. Entering Saturday, his ERA leads the AL (second in MLB) while his innings count and wins total (tie) lead the MLB.

LHP Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers

Skubal, last year’s AL Cy Young and triple crown winner, lags Crochet this time around, but not by much. The Tigers’ ace owns a 2.35 ERA with 187 strikeouts, an opponent batting average of .198 and 11 wins in 145.1 innings.  

His strikeout total, walks per nine rate (1.30) and K/BB rate (8.90) lead the MLB, while his strikeouts per nine rate (11.58) leads the AL. His 3 losses on the season are tied with Christopher Sanchez for the least among all qualified starters.

It’s fair to note that the Cy Young award doesn’t always go to the pitcher with the lowest ERA giving Skubal an outside shot if the voting started today, but the totals in the wins column and innings pitched still favor Crochet. Nonetheless, there is plenty of time left to pull ahead.

RHP Hunter Brown, Houston Astros 

Rounding out the top three is Brown, the Houston Astros’ breakout ace. Brown settled into the majors last season, throwing to a 3.49 ERA after struggling through his rookie year.

Now, Brown is one of the game’s top arms, maintaining an ERA of 2.51 with 160 strikeouts, an opponent batting average of .195 and nine wins in 136.1 innings, earning his first All-Star nod. Off the bat, the only thing that makes him stand out from the other two aces is his .195 opponent batting average, which may not be the lowest in the game, but is still lower than both Crochet’s and Skubal’s.

Brown is more of a longshot for the AL Cy Young Award; however, he isn’t out of the race yet. It seems implausible, but a stellar performance this month and next could push him to the top.