To no one's real surprise, Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers and Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees have been named the 2026 Cy Young Award winners for, respectively, the National League and American League. Each was announced as the winner of Major League Baseball's topmost honor for pitchers, and each won the balloting in unanimous fashion. They are the first duo to win unanimously in the same year in their respective leagues since Justin Verlander and Sandy Alcantara in 2022 and just the third in MLB history.

Obviously, Cy Young winners have necessarily authored excellent seasons, but in the case of this year's winners, the descriptor "excellent" doesn't quite rise to meet the work of Misiorowski and Schlittler: 

We could get into stuff, yes, as each has a blazing fastball that overwhelms hitters at the front end of a deep repertoire. This exercise, though, is more about how Misiorowski and Schlittler have overwhelmed the opposition when it comes to keeping runs off the board. You'll note all the strikeouts above, of course, but what may catch the eye is that each boasts a sub-2.00 ERA. That's a time-honored signifier of pitcher impeccability, even if ERA has its flaws. 

To upgrade this familiar stat just a bit – and to put the two 2026 Cy Young winners' accomplishments into fitting context – we'll turn to ERA+. ERA+ is ERA adjusted to reflect league and home ballpark tendencies. An ERA+ of 100 represents the league average, and each point above or below that mark reflects a one-point change. For example, a pitcher with an ERA+ of 120 had a park- and league-adjusted ERA that was 20% better than the league average, while a pitcher with an ERA+ of 95 was 5% worse than the league average. So from the hurlers' standpoint, the higher the ERA+, the better.

Jacob Misiorowski named National League Cy Young winner: Brewers ace takes home unanimous honors

Dayn Perry

This is all a necessary step when comparing pitchers across eras, because run–scoring environments have changed so drastically over the history of the sport. For example, Pedro Martinez's ERA of 1.74 in 2000, when teams were averaging more than five runs per game, means a lot more than, say, Charlie Chech's 1.74 ERA in 1908, when teams averaged 3.38 runs per game. That's where ERA+ comes in. Martinez in 2000 had an ERA+ of 291, or a park-adjusted ERA that was 191% (!) better than the league average. Chech in 1908 had the same ERA as Martinez in 2000, but his ERA+ of 136 was drastically worse. 

As for the two moundsmen of present interest, Misiorowski this past season had an ERA+ of 232, which led the majors. Schlittler had an ERA+ of 215, which led the American League. Yes, they had those sub-2.00 ERAs, but, really, topping a 200 ERA+ is a much more impressive achievement. Counting Misiorowski and Schlittler but throwing out the pitchers who achieved the mark in the 60-game 2020 season (you should always throw out 2020), just 43 pitchers in MLB since 1900 have managed a 200 ERA+ or better across a qualifying number of innings. Over that same span and with 2020 also omitted, 201 pitchers have achieved a sub-2.00 ERA in a qualifying number of innings. 

As you can imagine, it's a rarity to have not one but two pitchers in the same season who have a 200 ERA+ or better, as was the case this past season with Misiorowski and Schlittler. How rare? No season has ever given us more than two such qualifiers. Here's the full list of those across all of modern MLB history (i.e., since 1900): 

Yes, just six seasons have given us more than one 200 ERA+ pitcher, and this year's Miz-Cam combo marks just the third time that we've had one from each league. Accordingly, this marks just the third time that each Cy Young winner has reached the 200 ERA+ benchmark in a given season. 

There's another, even more exclusive group that puts the Miz-Cam tandem in the proper context and hints at a future that's as bright as their present and their recent past. In 2026, Schlittler was in his age-25 campaign, while Misiorowski was in his age-24 season. So they're young as frontline aces go, and while you never want to make assumptions about pitcher health and durability in the current era, this duo's elite performance at both top-line and underlying level raises the possibility that each will win another Cy or two (or three) in the years to come. 

Cam Schlittler named American League Cy Young winner: Yankees ace wins in just second MLB season

Dayn Perry

Turning back to the 200 ERA+ defining stat, such youth in tandem with such excellence is all but unprecedented. Of the seasons listed just above, just 1905 featured two pitchers who, like Miz and Cam this past season, were age 25 or younger at the time. Mathewson, the inner-circle all-time great, was 24 that season and Reulbach was a 22-year-old rookie. We haven't seen something like that in more than 120 years. 

Let's also note that Misiorowski and Shlittler, who each struck out more than 30% of opposing batters this season, absolutely have the stuff and foundational, forward-looking results to continue lording over their guild. Until that comes to pass, though, let's appreciate ther historical rare success and their even more historically rare combination of success and youth.