Phillies' Cristopher Sanchez makes MLB history that bodes well for Cy Young award

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Phillies' Cristopher Sanchez makes MLB history that bodes well for Cy Young award originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Philadelphia Phillies have seen a few of their pitchers over the last few years come agonizingly close to winning the NL Cy Young award.

Zack Wheeler's come close a few times, and Cristopher Sanchez had a strong case last year before losing it to Paul Skenes. In 2026, Sanchez is once again a Cy Young candidate, as he's been one of the best pitchers in baseball.

Paul Casella of MLB.com shared that, following his most recent start, Sanchez joined some elite company with some MLB history that bodes well for his chance to win the NL Cy Young award this season.

Cristopher Sanchez gets a good omen for Cy Young award with MLB history​

"... the only pitchers in MLB history to match Sanchez's ERA, strikeouts, walks, and innings total through the first 16 starts of a season are first-ballot Hall of Famer (Martinez) and two surefire Hall of Famers (Verlander and Kershaw)," Casella writes. "The other thing those three have in common: they are each a three-time Cy Young award winner."

Pedro Martinez, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw are the only pitchers in MLB history who have gone 105-plus innings with a 1.80 ERA or better with at least 120 strikeouts and 25 or fewer walks in their first 16 starts of a season.

Of this group, only Verlander didn't win his season's Cy Young award, as Kershaw and Martinez both won the Cy Young the same season they put together such a strong first-half, like what Sanchez has done so far.

The Phillies' ace so far this season has a 1.80 ERA with 121 strikeouts and 20 walks in 105 innings pitched. While this might be a little bit of a cherry-picked statistic, it's still an incredibly impressive company to be with for Sanchez.

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With all three of those pitchers winning Cy Young awards in their careers, and all three to be in the Hall of Fame when it's all said and done, it's a good omen for Sanchez.

Jacob Misiorowski is going to make it tough, as the Milwaukee Brewers ace, in 15 starts, has a 1.45 ERA with 138 strikeouts and 23 walks in 93 innings pitched.

This impressive feat of MLB history from Sanchez is, at the very least, some great company for Sanchez to be with.

While his Cy Young candidacy will be determined by Misiorowski's production the rest of the year, Sanchez is making a very strong case right now.

But, if nothing else, this feat of MLB history from Sanchez is a fantastic way for his first half to go. If he can continue pitching this dominantly, it will be very difficult not to name Sanchez as the NL Cy Young this season.

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