Jacob Misiorowski has separated himself from the NL Cy Young field at the All-Star break, and the betting market is treating him like the pitcher to beat.
The right-hander sits at -450 on DraftKings after a first half that has been flat-out dominant. Misiorowski is 10-4 with a 1.62 ERA and 167 strikeouts in 111 innings, a ridiculous line for someone in just his second MLB season. With numbers like that, he’s the clear headliner in a race that still has time to change, but not much room for anyone else to waste starts.
Cristopher Sanchez is the most obvious challenger. The Phillies lefty doesn’t match Misiorowski in strikeouts, but he’s still put together a strong case with 144 punchouts in 127.1 innings, a league-leading 11 wins, and a 2.62 ERA. Sanchez also finished second in NL Cy Young voting last year behind Paul Skenes, and this season has reinforced that he can handle a full workload over 30-plus starts.
Chris Sale is next in line, and his case starts with run prevention. He owns the league’s second-best ERA at 2.20, while going 9-6 with 117 strikeouts in 98 innings. Sale won the NL Cy Young Award in 2024, his first year in Atlanta and in the National League, but at this point he looks like he’d need a truly massive second half to catch the two pitchers ahead of him.
Zack Wheeler has been even sharper in some respects. He’s 10-1 with a 2.13 ERA and 108 strikeouts in 93 innings, though he hasn’t thrown enough innings to qualify among the leaders.
That apparently played a role in All-Star Game selections, too. Even so, the veteran has been excellent and sits at 22-1 as a name worth keeping in the mix.
Chase Burns rounds out the group of pitchers with shorter-than-65-1 odds. The young right-hander is 11-1 with a 2.54 ERA and 118 strikeouts in 102.2 innings, and while those numbers would make him a bigger story in most seasons, he remains a 28-1 longshot here.
At the moment, only seven pitchers have odds shorter than 65-1 to win the award on DraftKings. The market says Misiorowski is in front, and the gap is a big one. Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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