Aug 25, 2025; New York City, New York, USA; Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cristopher Sanchez (61) delivers a pitch against the New York Mets during the first inning at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images Gregory Fisher
It appears increasingly clear that 2025 will not be the year that a Phillie takes home the NL Cy Young Award for the first time since Hall of Famer Roy Halladay did so in 2010.
Zack Wheeler — who has twice finished runner-up for the award, including in 2024 — appeared to be at the forefront of the race once again at the All-Star Break. But with Wheeler lost for the season due to both the since-removed right upper extremity blood clot and the need for thoracic outlet decompression surgery, he's not going to win it.
Perhaps Wheeler wouldn't have ultimately taken home the honor anyway, but considering he leads all starters with an 11.7 K/9 and has the top NL marks in terms of strikeouts (195) and WHIP (0.935), it's certainly unfortunate for the veteran righty that he won't get the chance to finish off what had been a tremendous season.
Meanwhile, Cristopher Sánchez allowing six runs — five of which were earned — over 5 1/3 innings in the Phillies' latest nightmarish loss at Citi Field to the New York Mets certainly hurts his chances of catching Paul Skenes.
You don’t ever see Cristopher Sánchez this upset.
(Via @aokstott)
pic.twitter.com/HWf41ftXYz
Granted, Sánchez's full-season numbers are still really damn good. He's tied with Logan Webb for the most quality starts (18) among NL pitchers. His 2.66 ERA, 2.65 FIP, 0.55 HR/9 and 162 1/3 innings pitched are all in the top five among senior-circuit hurlers. Webb might have something to say about it, but Sánchez is probably the favorite to finish runner-up for the NL Cy Young Award right now.
The problem for Sánchez is that the aforementioned Skenes appears likely to run away with the honor right now. The reigning NL Rookie of the Year leads all MLB qualified starters in ERA (2.07), ERA+ (2.07) and HR/9 (0.5). Skenes has the top marks among NL pitchers in FIP (2.40) and WAR (5.4), per FanGraphs.
Skenes' record is currently 8-9. Might there be some old-school voters who hold it against Skenes if he finishes with a losing record and/or less than 10 wins? Perhaps, although Félix Hernández and Jacob deGrom definitely paved the way for Skenes to still comfortably win the NL Cy Young Award this year, even if it isn't in unanimous fashion.
Anything is possible. Skenes has already logged a career-high 161 innings pitched. Could he hit a wall in September and re-open the door for someone like Sánchez? Maybe, although there's no evidence that is going to happen and the 57-75 Pittsburgh Pirates would probably shut him down before he had the chance to blow his Cy Young case. As is, the most likely scenario right now is that Sánchez finishes second, a familiar spot for Phillies aces in recent years.
