Philadelphia Phillies Pitcher Positioned To Claim Elusive Cy Young Award

This long-time Philadelphia Phillies ace is among the favorites to win the National League Cy Young award.

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Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler has been among baseball's best for half a decade, but he's never been crowned the best. You could argue that he's coming off his finest season, where he finished second in the National League Cy Young race.

There is no shame in falling short to Atlanta Braves' pitcher Chris Sale, who was overdue for a Cy Young win himself. But at the end of the day, no one remembers who finishes second.

Winning championships and taking down personal accolades like this is what separates the great from the very good. Like the MVP, the Cy Young award is a legacy maker.

Wheeler finished fourth in WAR among all pitchers last season, his 6.1 output was a mere decimal behind Sale's 6.2. Wheeler has finished in the top 11 in WAR in every year since the Covid-shortened 2020 season. He's finished inside the top five, in the entire league, on four different occasions during that span.

He actually led all pitchers with a 7.6 WAR in 2021. The next closest competitors that season were then Los Angeles Dodger Walker Buehler and Toronto Blue Jay Robby Ray who won the American League Cy Young, both finishing with a 6.7 WAR. Despite leading the league in that all important statistic, Wheeler fell just short of Milwaukee Brewer Corbin Burnes for the Cy Young. Burnes was tied with four other pitchers for sixth in the league with a 5.6 WAR that season.

If you're a Wheeler or Phillies fan, that one stings the most because team success was the difference maker in that race. Wheeler objectively had the best season among all pitchers by a considerable margin. However, Philadelphia finished just two games above .500, while Milwaukee won the NL Central behind 95 wins. Team success is not nearly the significant factor it used to be in these races, but it played a pretty big role in deciding the 2021 National League Cy Young.

Entering 2025, Wheeler is among the primary contenders alongside Sale, newly minted Dodger Blake Snell, and Pirates' pitcher Paul Skenes to win the Cy Young. Wheeler, Sale and Snell all pitch for contenders in the National League, so team success is on their side. Snell has won this award in both leagues, including in 2023 as a Padre.

As already discussed, Sale is the defending winner in the National League. Skenes finished fifth among pitchers in WAR last year, but he doesn't quite look like the other contenders in this group. A big reason for that is it would be a bit of a surprise if Skenes' Pirates finished the season with a winning record. Since Wheeler suffered from lack of team success in 2021, that could be a problem for his candidacy.

Ultimately, it's hard for a pitcher to get as close to winning a Cy Young as Wheeler has, without taking home the award. The Phillies are a contender and Wheeler is one of the league's' premium pitchers, but he'll turn 35 in May. Several Cy Young winners have won the award at age 35 or older, but time is no longer on Wheeler's side to bring this one home to Philadelphia. If Wheeler is going to add Cy Young winner to his resume, the window is closing.