This article was first featured on Metro Philly Sports Network.
Cristopher Sanchez was world-class in his outing on Tuesday night against the Athletics.
The Phillies’ ace delivered an eight-inning shutout, paired with 10 strikeouts on the evening.
He allowed just four baserunners in the ballgame: three hits and one walk.
Sanchez lowered his season earned run average to 2.42, which is the 16th-best in Major League Baseball and the 9th-best in the National League.
After finishing runner-up a season ago to Paul Skenes, we dive into Sanchez’s early performance and how it stacks up against the rest of the National League.
The field
In 2025, it was primarily a two-horse race for the Cy Young Award.
Both Skenes and Sanchez were trading excellent starts for their teams. While Skenes had a better ERA, Sanchez was pitching deeper into ballgames. Alas, the baseball writers felt Skenes was worthy of winning the award unanimously.
To start 2026, the race still has a lot of competitors. Many of whom will drop off as the season lingers on into the summer months.
Shohei Ohtani is one name to watch. Ohtani has a 0.97 earned run average in 37 innings pitched. He has been brilliant on the mound, sacrificing his performance at the plate to do so.
Chris Sale has returned to the Atlanta Braves rotation completely healthy. After winning the National League Cy Young Award in 2024, Sale missed a lot of 2025 due to injury. Sale had edged out Zack Wheeler for the award.
Alongside Sale in Atlanta is Bryce Elder. The young right-hander is having a massive breakout this season and is riding a 2.02 earned run average in 49 innings.
Skenes is always lurking as well, but is not a qualified pitcher at the time of this writing. Skenes has only thrown 34 innings in 2026 but is slated to start Wednesday night against Arizona. The outing will put him back into contention, assuming he goes well into the game.
The rule of thumb is that a pitcher must throw at least one inning per game played by their club. 162 innings is the end of season cut-off.
Cristopher Sanchez
The Phillies’ ace is right in the thick of the race for the Cy Young Award once again.
Sanchez is tied for fifth place with five quality starts. He has the third most innings pitched in the NL and is fourth in K/9 (11.17)
The 2025 runner-up also leads the National League starters in fWAR (1.6) and strikeouts (60).
In my opinion, Sanchez will continue to separate himself from the pack as the season draws on.
Players he has to consider rivals for the award include Skenes, Sale, Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Shota Imanaga.
Maybe teammates Jesus Luzardo and Zack Wheeler enter the fray later in the year. That would only mean good things for the Phillies as a whole.
While you cannot win the Cy Young award in May, you can certainly lose it.
Sanchez is putting together another ace-like season thus far for the Phillies.
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