Padres' Mason Miller emerging as early NL Cy Young contender

San Diego Padres closer Mason Miller threw another completely dominant inning of relief on Sunday in a 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels. He retired the side in order (again), and struck out two more batters. 

We are barely even a month into the 2026 season, but it is already clear there is not another pitcher in baseball (starter or reliever) as dominant as Miller.

If he continues on this pace, it could put him in a position to do something few relief pitchers have ever done: win the Cy Young Award.

Padres closer Mason Miller emerging as early NL Cy Young contender

With Sunday's game in the books, Miller has thrown 11.1 innings this season, allowed just two hits, walked only two batters, surrendered zero runs and struck out 27 of the 38 batters he has faced.

It is not just the fact he is putting zeroes on the board every outing.

It is the fact Major League hitters are not even able to put the ball in play against him.

When it comes to Cy Young voting, it is incredibly difficult for relief pitchers to get much attention because they play such a specialized role and do not throw the same number of innings as starters. As such, their value is not seen as the same. In most cases, it is not the same.

But every once in a while, you get a relief pitcher who is so dominant, and so much better than everybody else, that it is impossible to ignore.

There have been nine relief pitchers to win the Cy Young in Major League history, with Eric Gagne (2003, Los Angeles Dodgers) and Dennis Eckersley (1992, Oakland A's) being the two most recent.

Neither of them were this dominant through their first 11 appearances of their Cy Young-winning seasons.

Just for comparison's sake, in Gagne's first 11 appearances, he had the same 0.00 ERA that Miller has, but only struck out 22 of 47 batters and allowed seven base runners.

In Eckersley's first 11 starts in 1992, he allowed three earned runs, struck out only 16 of 50 batters and allowed 12 base runners.

Miller, again, has struck out 28 out of 37 batters and allowed just four base runners. 

There is still a lot of baseball to be played this season, and a lot of starters are going to emerge, but in the early going, it is hard to ignore what Miller is doing. Not just in terms of the success, but also the complete and total dominance.