The Pirates hurler was a finalist in 2024, DraftKings thinks he brings it home this year.
Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates was a finalist for the 2024 NL Cy Young Award after finishing his rookie season with an 11-3 record, 1.96 ERA, a 0.947 WHIP, along with 170 strikeouts in 133 innings against just 32 walks. And while he finished third in the final Cy Young voting, our partners over at DraftKings think that’s about to change in 2025.
According to DK, Skenes currently sits at the top of the odds for Cy Young at +300. That means for every $100 you bet, you’d get $300 in return. Even as the favorite, that’s a pretty good bet.
2024 runner up Zack Wheeler is second in the odds right now at +750, while the 2024 winner Chris Sale sits as the third favorite, with +800. Blake Snell at +1000 and Corbin Burnes at +1200 round out the rest of the top five in the National League.
In the American League, Detroit Tigers stud Tarik Skubal is again your favorite at +400, with Garret Corchet coming in +600, Cole Ragans at +900, Jacob deGrom next at +1100 and former Bucco Gerrit Cole at fifth with +1600.
Skenes also appears on the National League MVP odds, though he’s much further down, coming in at 21 on the favorites list at +5500. The biggest issue there is that the Pirates are going to have to win for Skenes to get MVP traction, and it’s very unlikley they rack up enough dubs to put him into contention. From a pure numbers standpoint, he certainly has a shot, but the team likely holds him back.
In addition, the last time a full-time pitcher (meaning no Shohei Ohtani) won the MVP was Clayton Kershaw in 2014. Justin Verlander also won one in 2011, but before that, you need to go all the way back to Dennis Eckersley, who won as a reliever in 1992 and then Roger Clemens in 1986. In the National League, the last pitcher MVP before Kershaw was Bob Gibson in 1968, so history has shown it’s incredibly difficult to win MVP as a pitcher.
Nonetheless, if you think the Buccos might turn it around this year and finish with a winning record, those +5500 odds for a Skenes MVP look pretty juicy.