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What Stats Matter Most for the Cy Young Award?

What stats matter most for the Cy Young Award? ERA and innings build the case; strikeouts, WHIP and value stats show why one pitcher stands above the rest.

By Brett Hanson · Underdog Podcasts · November 12, 2026

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Jacob Misiorowski threw a fastball at 105.5 mph. He also made hitters look almost helpless for an entire season. In 2026, the Milwaukee Brewers pitcher held opponents to a.157 batting average and won every first-place Cy Young vote in the National League.

What stats matter most for the Cy Young Award? Start with earned run average, or ERA, which shows how few earned runs a pitcher allows. Then ask how many innings he pitched. Strikeouts and WHIP help explain his control of each game, while value stats offer a wider view. There is no fixed formula for voters to follow.

On Yesterday in Sports, Chris Horwedel opened the episode “Cy Young Sweeps, Spurs Rally & Connor McDavid Hits 20” with Misiorowski and New York Yankees pitcher Cam Schlittler. Both won in their second major league season. Both took all 30 first-place votes in their league.

That sounds like an easy call. The runners-up make it more useful than that.

Why does ERA matter most in Cy Young voting?

Pitchers try to keep runs off the board. ERA puts a number on that job: earned runs allowed per nine innings. Misiorowski led the majors at 1.80 in 2026. Schlittler led the American League at 1.95.

Those figures get a voter’s attention before the radar gun does. Horwedel said Misiorowski’s speed was striking, then pointed to his command as the difference. The numbers back up his point: Misiorowski paired that 1.80 ERA with 252 strikeouts and allowed remarkably few hits.

ERA still needs company. A pitcher benefits when fielders turn hard-hit balls into outs. He may leave runners on base one month and see them score the next. The same ERA can also mean different things in different ballparks. It records what happened, with some effects the pitcher cannot fully control.

That is why an adjusted stat such as ERA+ can help. It compares a pitcher’s ERA with the league while accounting for his home park; 100 is average. Misiorowski posted a 232 ERA+ in 2026, and Schlittler reached 215. Their low ERAs stood out even after that adjustment.

The simplest question remains a good one. How often did runners score while this pitcher was working? ERA answers it, though a voter still has to check how the pitcher got there.

What do strikeouts and WHIP tell voters?

A strikeout ends the batter’s turn without asking a fielder to make a play. Misiorowski struck out 252 hitters in 174⅔ innings. That was the most in the majors in 2026. He also led in strikeouts per nine innings, at 12.98.

Schlittler struck out 239 in 193⅔ innings. Toronto’s Dylan Cease matched those 239 strikeouts in 169 innings and finished second to him in AL voting. That comparison is useful: a strikeout total alone did not settle the award.

WHIP adds another clue. It divides a pitcher’s walks and hits allowed by his innings pitched, showing how many runners he lets aboard by those two routes. Misiorowski’s 0.80 WHIP meant fewer than one walk or hit per inning on average. His opponents hit just.157 against him.

Neither number tells the whole story. WHIP treats a walk and a home run as one runner each, though the damage is plainly different. Strikeouts say little about walks unless you look at both. A pitcher can miss bats all night and still make a mess by giving away bases.

Horwedel’s point about command matters here. The fastball looked spectacular at 105.5 mph. Keeping hitters off base across 30 starts made the speed count for something.

How much does workload count for the Cy Young Award?

ERA is a rate. Innings are the amount of work behind it. A 2.00 ERA over 90 innings does not cover as many outs as a 2.00 ERA over 190.

Misiorowski threw 174⅔ innings in 30 starts. His NL runner-up, Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez, threw 207 innings in 33 starts. Sánchez also struck out 231 hitters and led the majors with 22 quality starts. A quality start means at least six innings with no more than three earned runs allowed. He gave Philadelphia a great deal of work.

Their ERAs pulled the other way. Sánchez finished at 2.91, more than a full run above Misiorowski per nine innings. Voters had to weigh Sánchez’s extra 32⅓ innings against Misiorowski’s much lower rate. All 30 put Misiorowski first.

“The velocity gets your attention, but the real difference is that he pairs it with enough command”
— Chris Horwedel, on Yesterday in Sports

Horwedel briefly said the winners stood apart through “performance and work ethic.” Then he corrected himself: “Workload.” It is a small, revealing slip. An award ballot can measure innings. It cannot read a pitcher’s mind or tell who worked hardest in February.

Schlittler supplied both a low ERA and a heavier load than his closest rival. He pitched 193⅔ innings over 33 starts. Cease threw 169 innings over 29 starts, finishing with a strong 2.40 ERA. Schlittler’s edge in run prevention lasted for nearly 25 more innings.

Can WAR decide who wins the Cy Young Award?

Wins Above Replacement, or WAR, tries to measure a player’s total value against an available replacement. It gives voters one way to compare pitchers whose cases look different. It is not a rulebook for the award.

Schlittler led AL pitchers with 6.2 WAR by FanGraphs’ measure. That figure fit neatly beside his league-best ERA and 193⅔ innings. His 1.16 ERA on the road gave voters another reason to trust that his results were no trick of Yankee Stadium.

The NL race shows why WAR cannot end every argument. Sánchez led the majors with 8.1 WAR by Baseball-Reference. He also had 6.2 by FanGraphs, second in the NL. Those systems use different methods for pitcher value, so the figures should carry their labels.

FanGraphs builds its main pitcher WAR around Fielding Independent Pitching, a measure focused on strikeouts and walks, along with hit batters and home runs. The calculation also accounts for innings and park effects. Baseball-Reference’s figure gave Sánchez a strong case based on the runs he prevented across his large workload.

Misiorowski, though, led the majors in ERA, strikeouts and WHIP. That counts. Voters can consider WAR without deciding that the highest figure on one site must win, and Sánchez’s second-place finish shows that the broad value case still mattered.

What did the runners-up do well in 2026?

The second-place pitchers were no ceremonial names on the ballot. Cease struck out 239 hitters, tied with Schlittler, and finished with a 2.40 ERA. Twenty-two AL voters placed him second. None placed him first.

In the NL, Sánchez’s workload posed one challenge to Misiorowski. Atlanta’s Chris Sale posed another. Sale had a 2.16 ERA and 200 strikeouts in 27 starts. His ERA was closer to Misiorowski’s than Sánchez’s was, although Sánchez threw more innings and struck out more hitters.

The ballot showed the split. Sánchez received 17 second-place votes and finished with 99 points, while Sale took 11 second-place votes and finished with 98. One point between them. Sánchez was 111 points ahead of Misiorowski.

Horwedel said the result did not diminish the runners-up’ seasons. He was right. Voters disagreed over which challenger came next in the NL while agreeing completely about first place. Each ballot ranked five pitchers, with seven points for first and four for second.

A unanimous win tells you every voter picked the same pitcher first. That's all. It doesn't mean the league had only one excellent pitcher; Sale and Sánchez made that clear, separated by a single point despite both having strong cases.

Do pitcher wins or playoff games count?

A pitcher’s win-loss record is easy to find and harder to use well. He needs his team to score runs, and he may leave before the game is decided. Sánchez went 18-7 in 2026 and led the majors in wins. Misiorowski went 16-5 and won the NL Cy Young unanimously.

The award covers the regular season. Baseball Writers’ Association of America voters submit their ballots before postseason play begins. A brilliant October start cannot change a Cy Young vote already cast. That timing also keeps a pitcher’s playoff team from gaining an edge over one that missed October.

The same rule applied to Schlittler. His 2025 playoff work helped make him a familiar name, but his 2026 award rested on what he did that regular season: a 1.95 ERA, 239 strikeouts and 193⅔ innings. Even his road ERA had enough work behind it to be worth a look.

So read a Cy Young candidate’s line from left to right, then go back. Check the ERA and the innings. See how often he struck hitters out and how rarely he let them aboard. If two pitchers still look close, the wider value measures might tell you why. In 2026, they made the races interesting below first place.

The full episode of Yesterday in Sports is on Underdog Podcasts, with the rest of the network's shows.