Detroit Tigers' Tarik Skubal is on a quest to claim his third straight AL Cy Young award this season. Will anyone be able to halt his dominant reign?
Skubal is looking to join Greg Maddux (1992-1995) and Randy Johnson (1999-2002) as the only pitchers in MLB history to win the Cy Young three years in a row.
The Tigers' great has led the AL in ERA the past two seasons and has struck out a total of 469 hitters across 387.1 innings in those couple of years.
Let's dive into the odds for the 2026 AL Cy Young award and view his top competitors for this upcoming season:
Be sure to read the odds for the NL Cy Young award on site.
2026 AL Cy Young Odds - Pre-Season
Tarik Skubal (Detroit Tigers) | +290 |
Garrett Crochet (Boston Red Sox) | +375 |
Jacob deGrom (Texas Rangers) | +1100 |
Cole Ragans (Kansas City Royals) | +1200 |
Hunter Brown (Houston Astros) | +1200 |
Max Fried (New York Yankees) | +1500 |
Bryan Woo (Seattle Mariners) | +1800 |
Framber Valdez (Detroit Tigers) | +1800 |
Logan Gilbert (Seattle Mariners) | +2000 |
Dylan Cease (Toronto Blue Jays) | +3000 |
The Boston Red Sox' Garrett Crochet (+375) is clearly Skubal's top competitor.
Crochet was the runner-up last year in his first season with Boston, finishing the year with a 2.59 ERA and 255 strikeouts in 205.1 innings.
Similarly to Skubal, the southpaw dominates hitters with his high-90s fastball and sweeper to put guys away.
The 37-year-old Jacob deGrom is third in the odds at +1100. While his fastball dropped a couple miles per hour last year, he was still a force on the mound. He had a 2.97 ERA in 2025 and struck out 185 in 172.2 innings.
Of course, injuries have played a major role in deGrom's otherwise outstanding Hall-of-Fame level career and he'll have to stay healthy throughout most of the season to win his third career Cy Young. He pitched in a total of 48 games from 2020-24, but finished last season with 30 starts under his belt.
Cole Ragans and Hunter Brown are each +1200.
Ragans was hurt for the majority of the 2025 season, but he's dominant when healthy. He struck out 98 batters in just 61.2 innings pitched last year and finished fourth in Cy Young voting in 2024 when he led the AL with 10.8 K's/9 innings.
Hunter Brown established himself as the ace of the Houston Astros' rotation last year, carrying a 2.43 ERA across 31 games started. He finished third in Cy Young voting last year behind Skubal and Crochet and is looking to separate himself from the pack this year.
Max Fried (+1500) had the most wins in the MLB last year with 19 and sported a 2.86 ERA in 32 games. He'll need to increase his strikeout production to have a chance this year, however (189 K's in 195.1 innings in 2025).
Bryan Woo (+1800) and Logan Gilbert (+2000) are two Seattle Mariners' on the list, while Framber Valdez (+1800) and Dylan Cease (+3000) are on new teams.
Woo and Gilbert pitch in a pitcher-friendly ballpark and each have the potential to strikeout more than one hitter per inning, and one of the two can certainly be in the discussion for AL Cy Young when the season is nearing a close.
Valdez will be the No. 2 starter in Detroit behind Skubal. He's finished in the top-ten of AL Cy Young voting three times in his career and is looking to break through as one of the league's top five pitchers.
Cease is the newest Toronto Blue Jay after spending the last two seasons in San Diego. He led the MLB with 11.5 K's/9 innings last year, but walk issues have been a problem is whole career, and his 3.88 career ERA is decent.
If he can cut down on the walks finally, he might be able to shock fans and claim the AL Cy Young.
Check out the full odds list by clicking on MLB -> Futures -> Regular Season Awards.
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All odds written in this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.
