Cristopher

Sánchez

Sánchez generated 12 whiffs on 19 swings while facing mostly starters today. He’s right where he needs to be as he prepares to serve as the Dominican Republic’s ace in the WBC. He’s slated to face Nicaragua on Friday.

As expected, it was a landslide, with the right-hander taking all 30 first-place votes. Cristopher Sánchez received all 30 second-place votes, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished third. Skenes finished with a win-loss record of just 10-10, but voters saw through it with a 1.97 ERA, 216/42 K/BB over his 187 2/3 innings with the Pirates. It’s the second time a player has won the award a year after winning the Cy Young, joining Doc Gooden. He’ll deservedly be one of the first pitchers off the board come 2026.

Skenes represents the overwhelming favorite to capture his second consecutive Cy Young Award after leading the majors with microscopic 1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and 216/42 K/BB ratio across 187 2/3 innings over 32 starts. Yamamoto has already collected some hardware this postseason, earning World Series MVP honors after a historic Fall Classic performance. The 27-year-old right-hander posted a 2.49 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 201/59 K/BB ratio across 173 2/3 innings in 30 regular-season starts, then followed it up with a 1.45 ERA, 0.78 WHIP and 33/6 K/BB ratio over 36 2/3 postseason innings. Sánchez represents the dark-horse candidate despite continuing to establish himself among the National League’s elite arms with a 2.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 212/44 K/BB ratio across 202 innings over 32 starts. The winner will be announced on Wednesday, November 12.

The late-afternoon shadows at Dodger Stadium limited both offenses to just three hits combined through five frames. Sánchez waded into hot water for the first time in the sixth when one-out singles by Mookie Betts and Teoscar Hernández created a scoring opportunity, which he managed to extinguish. He came back out for the seventh at 80 pitches and was lifted in favor of Phillies closer Jhoan Duran after giving up a walk to Alex Call and a one-out single to Enrique Hernández. He was charged with a run after Duran handed out a bases-loaded free pass to Mookie Betts following an intentional walk to Shohei Ohtani. The 28-year-old southpaw has emerged as Philadelphia’s ace with veteran Zack Wheeler recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and he’ll be an early-round pick in all fantasy drafts next spring.

The 28-year-old southpaw racked up eight strikeouts on the night while issuing a pair of walks. All of the damage done against him came on his final batter of the night as Enrique Hernandez smacked a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning that pulled the Dodgers to within a run at 3-2. Sánchez got 18 swings and misses on 94 pitches on the evening — 12 on his devastating changeup — registering an elite CSW of 38 percent. He’ll be in line to start in Game 4 on Thursday in Los Angeles if the Phillies can hang on until then.

Sánchez needed only 60 pitches to get 17 outs today. The likely NL Cy Young runnerup ends the year 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA that ranks fifth in the majors. He’s seventh with 212 strikeouts, and he wound up allowing just 12 homers in 202 innings. That home run rate is basically a match for Paul Skenes for the top mark among qualified starters, but Sánchez’s figure is definitely more impressive after factoring in each’s home ballpark. Sánchez will likely next pitch Saturday in the Phillies’ NLDS opener.

The 28-year-old southpaw struck out six batters in the impressive outing while issuing only one base on balls. The biggest threat against him came as Teoscar Hernandez smacked a two-out double in the fourth inning but he was left stranded right there. Sánchez got 15 swings and misses on 91 pitches on the night — eight of those on his changeup — while posting a CSW of 31 percent. He concludes a brilliant regular season with a 13-5 record, 2.57 ERA, 1.08 WHIP and a 204/44 K/BB ratio across 196 1/3 innings in his 31 starts. He’ll certainly be in the running for the National League Cy Young award.

Piggyback fever is sweeping the nation. The Phillies become the latest organization to take the plunge with the Walker/Buehler tandem — seriously, you can’t make this stuff up — enabling the club to set up their rotation by having Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez face the Diamondbacks this weekend, which puts Cristopher Sánchez on track to start Game 1 of the NLDS.

Sánchez tossed a scoreless first inning, then gave up a solo homer to Alex Call in the second before Enrique Hernández took him deep for a two-run blast. The Dodgers added a fourth run on two hits and a sacrifice fly in the fourth. Sánchez settled in for three more scoreless frames, ending his day after seven with six strikeouts. The 28-year-old left-hander will take an incredible 2.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 198/43 K/BB ratio across 189 1/3 innings into a start against the Marlins in Philadelphia next week.

Sánchez had payback in mind after the Mets touched him up for a season-high six runs a few weeks ago. That was the only time this season he allowed more than four in any start and wasn’t about to let it happen again. The only time they challenged him was in a dangerous fourth inning where they pushed their only run across, but Sánchez forced a critical double play against Brandon Nimmo before the Phillies’ lineup broke this one open soon thereafter. Of the 15 balls the Mets put in play, 10 were on the ground and there were few moments where it didn’t feel like he was in complete control. He has a tall task against the Dodgers next time out.