Bradford DoolittleNov 12, 2025, 08:00 PM ETCloseMLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com Been with ESPN since 2013
Tarik Skubal on baseball journey: ‘Look at me now’ (0:54)Tarik Skubal details his baseball journey after winning his second consecutive AL Cy Young Award. (0:54)
The hot stove season is already burning, but even amid the roster shuffling for the 2026 season, we have one last bit of 2025 business: handing out the major awards.
The most prestigious are the four major honors determined by BBWAA voting. These awards will have a lasting impact on baseball history books and Hall of Fame résumés.
On Monday, Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz was unanimously selected as the American League Rookie of the Year, and Atlanta Braves rookie catcher Drake Baldwin earned the National League honor.
Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy and Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt each won their second consecutive Manager of the Year Award on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal won his second straight AL Cy Young Award. In the NL, the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes won his first — unanimously.
MLB will also hold its annual awards show in Las Vegas on Thursday, during which it will recognize its All-MLB squads, the Hank Aaron Awards for each league’s best offensive performer, the Comeback Player of the Year Awards, the Mariano Rivera/Trevor Hoffman Awards for the top relievers, and the Edgar Martinez Awards for best designated hitters. The Executive of the Year Award will also be announced.
Takeaway: Skubal becomes the first back-to-back Cy Young winner since Jacob deGrom with the Mets in 2018 and 2019, and the first in the AL to do it since Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000. The only other Tigers hurler to win multiple Cy Young Awards was Denny McLain (1968 and 1969). Not bad for a pitcher who entered last season with a career record of 23-27.
Skubal’s dominance and efficiency have become must-see viewing during the regular season. His average game score (64.2) led the majors, and he led the AL in ERA and FIP for a second straight season while again making 31 starts. While he didn’t repeat as the circuit’s strikeout king, he upped his total from 228 to 241 while posting a ridiculous 7.3:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. That’s pure dominance.
Skubal has reached the point where he can attack the strike zone with precision and without giving up damage, allowing him to get deep into games even as his strikeout total soars. Skubal had six starts when he struck out at least 11 batters without throwing 100 pitches. Against Cleveland on May 25, he threw a two-hit shutout and struck out 13 on just 94 pitches while putting up a game score of 96, tied for the highest of 2025.
Despite all of this, I didn’t see this race as a no-brainer. That’s how good Crochet was during his first Red Sox season and the first in which he made the transition from a potential ace to a right-now stopper. His league-leading total of 205 1/3 innings nearly doubled his career total and his 255 strikeouts topped Skubal for the MLB lead.
That Crochet did all of this while winning 18 games and not winning the Cy Young is another data point underscoring the demise of the win statistic. But his breakout showed that if Crochet can stay healthy, the considerable prospect haul the Red Sox sent to the White Sox to acquire him will prove to be worth it.
1. Tarik Skubal, Tigers (153 AXE, finalist) 2. Garrett Crochet, Red Sox (151, finalist) 3. Hunter Brown, Astros (143, finalist) 4. Trevor Rogers, Orioles (136) 5. Max Fried, Yankees (135) 6. Nathan Eovaldi, Rangers (134) 7. Carlos Rodon, Yankees (130)
Note: AXE is an index that creates a consensus rating from the leading value metrics (WAR, from FanGraphs and Baseball Reference) and contextual metrics (win probability added and championship probability added, both from Baseball Reference), with 100 representing the MLB average.
Takeaway: The pitcher win is truly dead. And that’s fine. Never again will we have a stretch like the early 1980s when a string of AL Cy Young trophies were handed out to pitchers with relatively pedestrian run prevention figures but inflated win totals. Skenes wins because he is the game’s most dynamic young pitcher who, with a measure of health, is on track to become an all-time great.
That Skenes went 10-10 is but an amusing footnote and an indictment of the team with which he was surrounded. Still, his Cy Young is historic in that he becomes the first starter to land a Cy Young with a non-winning record. Here’s another historic note that ranks all pitchers in history by ERA with a minimum of 50 games started since 1901:
1. Paul Skenes, 215 2. (tie) Clayton Kershaw, 154 Pedro Martinez, 154 4. Jacob deGrom, 151 5. Jose Fernandez, 150
Sure, Skenes has nowhere to go but down from here — probably. But he’s already built up a heck of a buffer against the pack. He’s the fifth pitcher to win a Cy Young within his first two big league seasons, and just the third Pirates hurler to win, joining Vern Law (1960) and Doug Drabek (1990).
Here’s how my AXE leaderboard had it, with the decimals broken out for Sanchez and Skenes, who were in a virtual tie for the top:
1. Cristopher Sanchez, Phillies (159.5 AXE, finalist) 2. Paul Skenes, Pirates (159.4, finalist) 3. Andrew Abbott, Reds (138) 4. (tie) Freddy Peralta, Brewers (137) Zack Wheeler, Phillies (137) 6. Nick Pivetta, Padres (136) 7. Logan Webb, Giants (135) — 13. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers (123, finalist)
What to know: We’re going to dive deep into the riveting race between Judge and Raleigh later this week. According to my AXE rating, which is an index that expresses the consensus of the leading bottom-line metrics, the winner is Judge (164 to 150) and it’s not particularly close.
Despite the easy statistical case for Judge, I see this as a case in which the narrative and intangible elements overwhelm the metrics. And that’s not to undersell Raleigh’s metrics, which are more than MVP-worthy. But despite another historic season from Judge, I’m going with Raleigh.
Raleigh did all of this as the defensive anchor and clubhouse leader on a division champion. There aren’t many seasons when I’d pick someone as MVP over the 2025 version of Aaron Judge, but this is one of them. Sure, I’m a stat guy, so this feels like a departure from that foundation, but sometimes a narrative is just too compelling to ignore.
Finally, poor Jose Ramirez. This is Ramirez’s sixth time landing in the AL’s top five in MVP balloting, and eighth time in the top 10. But he’s not going to win. Ramirez just keeps churning out the same great season every year. It’s just that there has always been someone a little greater each season.
What to know: Together, the three NL MVP finalists logged 63% of their starts at designated hitter. Most of the non-DH starts came from Soto, whose defensive metrics continue to suggest a future of increased DH time. Still, the days of DHs being locked out of the MVP chase are clearly over.
Ohtani was the first exclusive DH to win an MVP last year, though he’d won it before while serving as an every-day DH in addition to pitching. He logged 1.1 bWAR this season for his 47 innings on the mound, which could have proved to be a tiebreaker if he and the other finalists were close. But it’s Ohtani all the way.
As hitters, all three used up a similar number of outs as Ohtani, who had at least a 20-run advantage in runs created over both. Shockingly, it was Soto who had the best baserunning numbers, thanks to his 38-steal breakout and Ohtani deemphasizing that part of his game. But Ohtani provided easily the most defensive value with his pitching, while Soto’s defense was a negative and Schwarber was almost exclusively a DH.
Basically, everything Schwarber and Soto did, Ohtani did better — and he pitched well. Even Schwarber’s league-leading RBI count (132) is trumped by Ohtani’s decided edge in WPA, a category in which he led the league. It’s Ohtani’s award, again, and it will be No. 4 for him. Only Barry Bonds has won more.
Not for nothing, you know which position player posted the highest bWAR total? That would be a nonfinalist: Arizona’s Geraldo Perdomo (7.0 bWAR), though he did finish behind Ohtani when the latter’s pitching bWAR is added.
‘He turned his back on us’: What it was like watching Soto’s Bronx return with the Bleacher Creatures
Takeaway: Before the season, Kurtz’s name wasn’t near the top of the list for AL Rookie of the Year candidates. He didn’t lack hype — he was viewed by many as the Athletics’ top prospect — but his meteoric rise was unexpected.
Kurtz, the fourth pick in 2024, played just 12 minor league games and another 13 in last year’s Arizona Fall League before this season. So, it made sense that he began the season in Triple-A, where he posted a 1.000-plus OPS, which he has done every step of the way.
The ninth Rookie of the Year in Athletics history, Kurtz’s slash line (.290/.383/.619) at 22 is evidence that he’s the complete package at the plate and still might improve. But even if he doesn’t, and this is what he is going forward, he’s one of the best hitters in the majors.
The other two finalists — Anthony and Wilson — were both high on preseason lists for the award and validated that anticipation with fine rookie seasons. Wilson’s .311 average ranked third in the majors. He was one of seven qualifying hitters in the majors to hit at least .300. Anthony lived up to massive hype upon his arrival at Fenway Park, but he suffered an oblique injury Sept. 2, ending his chances of overtaking Kurtz for the award.
1. Nick Kurtz, Athletics (126 AXE, finalist) 2. Jacob Wilson, Athletics (118, finalist) 3. (tie) Roman Anthony, Red Sox (115, finalist) Noah Cameron, Royals (115) Colson Montgomery, White Sox (115) 6. Carlos Narvaez, Red Sox (110) 7. Shane Smith, White Sox (109)
Takeaway: The voters favored Baldwin’s full-season production over Horton’s remarkable second half. It was a tough call, but Baldwin established himself as one of the game’s outstanding young catchers. Baldwin hit .274/.341/.469 over 124 games, numbers strong enough to earn him regular DH time on days he wasn’t catching. That’s key, because Atlanta still has veteran Sean Murphy under contract for three more years.