Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez’s scoreless streak boosts his Cy Young case originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The National League Cy Young Award race is shaping up to be one that could come down to the wire. Four different starting pitchers and possibly one reliever are vying for the award, as all four starters have an ERA of under 2.00 (minimum of 50.0 innings) and have at least one strikeout per inning.
According to MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan, since 1967, when the award was first introduced to both leagues, there has never been a tighter race where so many pitchers met so many benchmarks.
Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sanchez is one arm vying to win his first Cy Young Award. The former All-Star (2024) added to his case on Wednesday when he surpassed Phillies great right-hander Grover Cleveland Alexander for the most scoreless innings tossed (44 2/3 innings) in franchise history.
Sanchez is the only pitcher in MLB history to not allow a run in a calendar month while striking out 40 or more batters, according to OptaSTATS.
Second to Milwaukee Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski in strikeouts — Misiorowski has 100 strikeouts in 64.0 innings, while Sanchez has 95 in 75.1 innings — Sanchez leads Major League Baseball in ERA (1.47), in a six-way tie for home runs allowed (three) and is one of three pitchers to have a complete game shutout this season.
Philadelphia Phillies Cristopher Sanchez’s scoreless streak could prove what helps win him the National League Cy Young Award
After breaking Ole Pete’s (Alexander) record, which stood for 115 years, Sanchez is tracking down Los Angeles Dodgers great, right-hander Orel Hershiser, who owns the longest scoreless streak in MLB history (59.0 innings).
“After placing second in the NL Cy Young Award race last season with a 2.50 ERA and 212 strikeouts over 202 innings, Sánchez has managed to unlock another level in 2026,” wrote Harrigan. “He leads all qualifiers in ERA (1.47), FIP (1.81) and has the third-most WAR (3.3, per FanGraphs) of any player.”
More MLB News:Phillies’ Cristopher Sanchez found his historical outing ‘special’
If Sanchez can throw one more complete frame in his next start, he will leapfrog three players: right-hander Zack Greinke (45.2 innings pitched in 2015), left-hander and screwball master Carl Hubbell (45.1 innings pitched in 1933) and right-hander Sal Maglie (45 innings pitched in 1950).
More MLB News:
- Brewers’ Jacob Misiorowski is in line to bring home some valuable hardware
- Pirates’ Paul Skenes is not the odds-on favorite to win the NL Cy Young
- Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is primed to win his first Cy Young Award
- The Phillies bench has been another weak part of the roster
- Giants’ Rafael Devers needs to put his struggles in ‘the rear-view mirror’