RJ Hamster
Is the AL Cy Young race back open?
Wednesday, July 01
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Cam Schlittler looked like he had a stranglehold on the American League Cy Young race. But yesterday was a good reminder that this is baseball, and anything can happen.
Schlittler’s showdown with Tarik Skubal at Yankee Stadium wasn’t the pitchers’ duel we were expecting. Skubal was Skubal. But Schlittler wasn’t Schlittler.
The Yankees phenom, who was the near-unanimous favorite in our last AL Cy Young poll, got hammered for six runs on four home runs, the worst start of his career. His ERA jumped from 1.62 to 2.08, the first time it’s been over 2.00 since mid-April.
But does that open the door in the Cy Young race?
As Skubal himself correctly surmised after outpitching Schlittler, “Even after today’s game, I bet he still has the lowest ERA in the American League.” Schlittler’s 2.08 ERA is indeed well clear of the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen (2.45) for the league lead, and a 2.08 ERA is firmly in Cy Young territory.
But for one of the only times this season, Schlittler looked mortal — on the same day that some of the other top dogs in the AL looked like they’re leveling up.
Like Jacob deGrom, who overpowered the Guardians and looked like Vintage deGrom doing it. deGrom’s fastball was sizzling like it hadn’t in a long time — he reached triple digits five times, including a max velo of 100.5 mph and a strikeout at 100 on the dot.
If we’re going to get triple digits from deGrom down the back half of the season, and if he can lead the now-first-place Rangers to an AL West title, he’ll be in the conversation for a third career Cy Young.
And there’s always Skubal himself to contend with. Going toe-to-toe with Schlittler, the reigning back-to-back Cy Young winner had his best start since returning from elbow surgery and looked like, well, a guy who could win three straight. Even with the time Skubal’s missed, if he has a completely dominant second half of the season, could you really rule him out?
Imagine Skubal pitches the Tigers back into playoff contention — or, say he gets traded to an AL contender and leads them straight to the postseason — how would he not get Cy Young consideration?
It’s still Schlittler’s award to lose. He’s been the best pitcher in the American League this year — even Skubal says so. But we’re not even at the All-Star break yet. There’s plenty of time for the other contenders to get back into the mix, and we’d love a good, competitive award race.
GAME OF THE NIGHT: SKENES VS. WHEELER
Hopefully we’ll have better luck with this marquee pitching matchup than we did with Skubal-Schlittler yesterday.
Over in Philadelphia tonight, Paul Skenes duels Zack Wheeler.
The Phillies have been firing on all cylinders thanks largely to their pair of aces, Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez, who’ve been as good of a 1-2 punch as any in the big leagues. Sánchez did his part last night with seven scoreless innings to beat the Pirates and make his case to start the 2026 All-Star Gamefor the National League. Now it’s Wheeler’s turn.
Wheeler is looking like an All-Star himself. He’s 8-1 with a 2.03 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 12 starts this season.
His opponent, Skenes, is looking to make his third straight All-Star team after starting the game for the NL last year.
Skenes, who beat out Sánchez for the NL Cy Young in 2025, is also a Cy Young contender again this season. But he needs to pitch his way back to true frontrunner status alongside Sánchez and the Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski.
Skenes has a 3.10 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 17 starts this season, but the Pirates have lost the last eight games he’s pitched, with Skenes 0-5 in those eight starts since he earned his last victory on May 12.
First pitch for Skenes vs. Wheeler is set for 6:40 p.m. ET on MLB.TV.
LAST CHANCE TO VOTE FOR ALL-STARS
There’s less than 24 hours left to pick the All-Star Game starters.
Phase 2 voting ends tomorrow at noon ET. So this is your last chance to fill out a ballot.
As of the latest ballot update this afternoon, the closest races were in the outfield for both leagues.
In the AL, Aaron Judge (even though he’s injured) is holding off Yankees teammate Cody Bellinger for the third and final starting spot.
In the NL, the Braves’ Michael Harris II has a narrow lead for the third spot over two Dodgers, Andy Pages and Teoscar Hernández, as well as his teammate, Ronald Acuña Jr.
Other races to watch include first base in the AL (Vladimir Guerrero Jr. vs. Ben Rice), first base in the NL (Freddie Freeman vs. Matt Olson) and shortstop in the NL (CJ Abrams vs. Mookie Betts).
Vote now for the All-Star Game starters >>
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Here’s a look at the news and notes from around the Majors.
• This afternoon, Seiya Suzuki hit his 100th MLB home run. He’s the fourth Japanese-born player to reach the 100-homer mark in the Majors, joining Shohei Ohtani (298), Hideki Matsui (175) and Ichiro (117). Before he came to the Cubs in 2022, Suzuki hit 182 home runs in nine seasons in Japan.
• Dave Roberts recorded his 1,000th win as a manager last night, becoming the fastest manager in MLB history to reach the 1,000-win milestone. The Dodgers skipper has led L.A. to three World Series championships in his 11 seasons at the helm. Roberts is one of three active managers with 1,000 wins, along with the Reds’ Terry Francona (2,072) and the Tigers’ A.J. Hinch (1,001), who just reached the milestone himself on Monday.
• Every day is a Home Run Derby for Junior Caminero, who’s now homered in five straight games for the Rays and has eight homers in his last seven. The same day he became the first contestant to commit to the 2026 Derby, Caminero bashed his 23rd home run of the season, as he also looks to win the All-Star start at third base for the AL.
• Yordan Alvarez made his own case to start the All-Star Game with a massive grand slam— his seventh in an Astros uniform, tying Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Carlos Lee for the franchise record. Alvarez, who holds a solid lead over George Springer to be the AL’s All-Star starter at DH, now has a league-leading 26 home runs and 1.046 OPS this season.
• Don’t look now, but here come the Marlins. Miami wrapped up a historic 20-win month of June yesterday with a drubbing of the Rockies in Colorado. The Marlins went 20-6 in June — the best record of any team in the Majors — to reach six games over .500 for the season at 46-40. They’re now tied with the Cardinals for the third NL Wild Card spot.
TOP PROSPECTS IN THIS YEAR’S FUTURES GAME
The 2026 All-Star Futures Game rosters were announced today, and many of the best prospects in baseball will be participating.
Headlining the NL team will be MLB Pipeline’s No. 1 overall prospect, Jesús Made, and last year’s No. 1 overall Draft pick, Eli Willits.
On the AL side you’ll see MLB Pipeline’s No. 2 overall prospect, Leo De Vries, as well as baseball’s top pitching prospect, Kade Anderson.
The Futures Game will be played on Sunday, July 12 at noon ET on NBC at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia as part of All-Star Week.
See all the top prospects participating in the 2026 Futures Game here >>
JULY’S BEST MINOR LEAGUE PROMOS
Nothing beats a good Minor League giveaway. Here are some of the best ones coming up this month.
It all starts today with a Jonah Tong “Canadian Cannon” bobblehead from the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in honor of Canada Day.
And last but not least is the “One Million Calories of Free Bratwursts Night” that the Springfield Cardinals will host on July 30, where they’ll be giving away more than 3,000 links of sausage.
See all the best Minor League promos for July here >>
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