It’s more than likely the first of several.

It also wasn’t much of a surprise given Paul Skenes’ dominance in 2025.

A year after he burst onto the scene by winning National League Rookie of the Year, Skenes took both an impressive and logical next step Wednesday when the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced the Pirates ace had won this year’s NL Cy Young Award.

The Cy Young — which Skenes won over Cristopher Sanchez of the Phillies and Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers — is the first for a Pirate since Doug Drabek in 1990 and third overall (Vernon Law, 1960).

Skenes was a unanimous winner, earning all 30 first-place votes. Sanchez got all 30 second-place votes. Yamamoto (16), San Francisco’s Logan Webb (10) and Milwaukee’s Freddy Peralta (4) split the third-place votes.

See Full Page