BBWAA to hand out 2026 Cy Young Awards Wednesday as six finalists set in both leagues

By Vancouver Television Sports Desk

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America will announce and award the Cy Young Awards for each league on Wednesday, with the winners scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on MLB Network. The finalists for the 2026 awards include six pitchers who have combined to create one of the more closely packed races in recent memory, with only one prior Cy Young winner among the group: Chris Sale, the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner.

In the American League, Cam Schlittler is viewed as the leading candidate after posting an AL-best 1.95 ERA and leading the league in pitching WAR (7.0). He finished with 239 strikeouts against 49 walks and allowed 129 hits in 193 2/3 innings, and he also produced what the source describes as the franchise’s lowest ERA by a qualified starter since Ron Guidry’s 1.74 in Guidry’s Cy Young-winning 1978 season. Schlittler limited damage by allowing one or zero runs in a Major League-best 21 starts and three runs or fewer in 29 starts, tied for the most in the majors.

Schlittler was especially strong on the road, going 8-2 with a 1.16 ERA in 15 starts. The source credits him with leading Major Leaguers in road ERA, strikeouts (129), opponent batting average (.153), opponent OPS (.456) and WHIP (0.74). Schlittler also offered a brief explanation for his approach, saying, “I think sometimes you just naturally lock in a little bit more. The goal is to find a way to treat every game the same.”

Among the other AL finalists, Dylan Cease’s case is built around what the source characterizes as a high ceiling and results that the season showed at its peaks. It notes that in 2022, when Cease was with the White Sox, he finished second in Cy Young voting behind Justin Verlander. For 2026, Cease recorded 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings, which set a new Blue Jays record for qualified pitchers, and finished with 237 strikeouts, the fourth-most in franchise history behind Robbie Ray and Roger Clemens (both of whom won Cy Young Awards).

The source also highlights specific top performances for Cease, including carrying a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Giants in July and then striking out 12 batters over a complete-game, one-hit outing against the Red Sox later in July. It describes his repertoire with a heavy reliance on his slider and fastball, with the added note that he found a “sweet spot” with a changeup to round out his arsenal during the season. The source further indicates that shoulder inflammation late in the year coincided with a drop in velocity.

Parker Messick rounds out the AL finalists after making a quick rise that the source frames as rare for a rookie. It says Messick, who was also an AL Rookie of the Year Award finalist, became only the sixth rookie to be named a Cy Young Award finalist, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, joining Mark Fidrych (1976), Fernando Valenzuela (1981), Dwight Gooden (1984), José Fernández (2013) and Paul Skenes (2014). Messick’s statistical profile, per the source, includes a 2.56 ERA (sixth among qualified MLB starters) and 193 strikeouts in 186 1/3 innings (seventh).

The source adds that Messick’s 6.3 WAR (per Baseball Reference) ranked second among AL pitchers behind Schlittler (7.0), above Cease (5.6). It also describes his consistency by noting that he allowed three or fewer runs 29 times, two or fewer runs 24 times, and one or zero runs 16 times. The source points to a six-pitch mix and specifically says Messick’s four-seam fastball had the fourth-highest run value (+26) of any offering in MLB.

In the National League, Jacob Misiorowski is described as a front-runner in a field that also includes Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez and Chris Sale. The source says Misiorowski, a flamethrower who touched 105.5 mph on the radar gun, finished as the Major League leader in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), strikeout rate (37.9 percent), WHIP (0.80) and opponents’ average (.157) across 174 2/3 innings. It also notes that he joined Justin Verlander (2019) and Pedro Martínez (2000) as the only pitchers in history with 250-plus strikeouts and a WHIP as low as 0.80.

The source further credits Misiorowski, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, with joining Sandy Koufax (1965), J.R. Richard (1979) and Mike Scott (1986) as only pitchers since 1950 to lead the majors in ERA, strikeouts and opponents’ average. It adds that his .157 opponents’ average was the lowest on record for a full season, surpassing Martínez’s .167 mark in his 2000 campaign. It does acknowledge one limit on the case: Misiorowski pitched fewer innings than the other finalists because the Brewers were protective as he pushed beyond his previous career high, with the source attributing the decision to planning for an extended October.

Cristopher Sánchez’s case in the NL is built around volume and results over 33 starts, according to the source. It states that he went 18-7 with a 2.91 ERA in 33 starts and led MLB in wins and bWAR (8.1). The source says he led the NL in quality starts (22), starts (33), complete games (one) and shutouts (one), while ranking second in strikeouts (231), fWAR (6.2) and innings pitched (207).

The source also reports that Sánchez finished third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.13), fourth in walks per nine innings (1.96) and FIP (2.80), and sixth in ERA. It notes a scoreless streak of 50 2/3 innings from late April to early June, described as the longest in Phillies history and the fifth-longest single-season streak since 1893, when the mound moved to its current distance, and says it was also the longest by any left-handed pitcher. It further ties his season to high-profile milestones, including NL Pitcher of the Month honors in May and his selection to start for the NL in the All-Star Game in Philadelphia in July.

The final NL finalist, Chris Sale, is part of the mix despite not being the league’s top statistical profile in the source’s breakdown. It states that Sale, the 2024 NL Cy Young winner, ranked second in the NL in ERA (2.16), third in WHIP (0.98), fourth in strikeouts (200) and sixth in batting average allowed (.215). The source says Sale led the group with 19 quality starts over 27 starts for a 70 percent quality start rate, while noting that the only pitcher with a better percentage over 20 starts or more was the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto (22 of 28).

The source describes a turnaround after Sale’s third start, when he allowed six earned runs over four innings against the Angels on April 12. It says he followed with a 1.96 ERA over his next 24 starts and then delivered his finest outing on Aug. 27 with 11 strikeouts during a five-hit shutout of the Dodgers. It also notes Sale reached 200 strikeouts against the final batter he faced in the regular-season finale against the Reds.

With the winners set to be announced Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET, each league’s Cy Young race will be decided among a group that combines durability, peak dominance, and—especially in Messick’s case—an uncommon impact as a first-year big leaguer.

For readers tracking the awards, the source also includes an explicit reminder that this is the Cy Young presentation for each league, arriving at the same scheduled time, with the finalists identified in alphabetical order by league as Misiorowski, Sánchez and Sale in the NL, and Schlittler, Cease and Messick in the AL. The outcome will determine which of those six pitchers is named the 2026 Cy Young Award winner in their respective league.