Category: Baseball

San Diego Padres star closing pitcher Mason Miller is being recognized as the best at his position in all of Major League Baseball.

Miller was unanimously crowned the league’s National League Reliever of the Year after compiling a 38-save season.

This year is the first time the Baseball Writers’ Association of America has voted on the award, and it differs from Trevor Hoffman winning the Rolaids Relief Man Award in 2006 and 1998.

Last year, Miller was selected to his second career All-Star Game, and made 66 appearances for the Padres and converted 38 of 41 save opportunities, while recording a 1.67 ERA and a 0.900 WHIP.

Before 2026, the highest number of saves Miller had was in his rookie season in 2024, notching 28 saves in 55 appearances with the Oakland A’s.

Miller finished last season tied in the National League for saves with Riley O’Brien of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Miller finished ahead of Jhoan Duran of the Philadelphia Phillies, who finished with 24 second-place votes, and Trevor McGill of the Milwaukee Brewers, who only had two votes for second place.

During the playoffs last October, Miller made MLB history in the Padres’ National League Wild Card series victory over the Chicago Cubs, where he earned his 10th career postseason strikeout after facing his 12th career batter in the playoffs.

Breaking a record was nothing new for Miller last year, as he also set the Padres’ scoreless-innings record by throwing 34 2/3 consecutive innings without giving up a run last season.

While last season was a year filled with memorable moments for Miller and the Padres, they would probably like to forget how it ended, after they were eliminated in Game 4 of the NLDS to the Milwaukee Brewers.

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LAS VEGAS –– In the wake of their National League Championship Series sweep at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers last month, there was a sense in the Dodgers’ clubhouse that they had just concluded a “last ride” with that iteration of the club’s dynasty-cementing roster.

How true that proves to be, however, could depend on their willingness to bring back several popular core pieces who are free agents this winter.

While most of the team’s biggest stars will return in 2027, the Dodgers do have decisions to make with everyone from Kiké Hernández to Alex Vesia to Evan Phillips and even Brusdar Graterol.

All of them played key roles during the club’s run to back-to-back World Series championships in 2024 and 2025.

All of them are now on the free-agent market this offseason, but have indicated hopes of re-signing in Los Angeles.

As this lockout-threatened winter unfolds, they will provide something of a litmus test for how much roster turnover the Dodgers are willing to endure.

Start with Hernández, the longtime fan-favorite who has compensated for recently disappointing regular-season performances with his penchant for providing heroics in October.

The Dodgers have a need for his skill set, seeking right-handed-hitting infielders capable of playing multiple positions across the diamond (especially in the wake of Miguel Rojas’ retirement). They have re-signed the 35-year-old veteran in each of the last three offseasons, as well, seemingly always saving a place on the roster for the franchise’s all-time postseason games played leader.

At the outset of this winter, however, Hernández struck a more uncertain tone regarding his future, acknowledging he didn’t “really know what’s going to happen” in his free agency.

General manager Brandon Gomes offered no further clarity while speaking at the GM Meetings on Tuesday, saying: “Kiké has been such a huge part of what we’ve done in the past, and we’ll continue to have those conversations. But what that looks like right now, I have no idea.”

Hernández’s lack of regular-season production over the past few years explains why the Dodgers might be more hesitant to re-sign him again. Not only has he hit just .219 with a .645 OPS since 2024, but he has missed significant time with elbow and oblique injuries.

What the Dodgers need in 2027 is someone who can be a weapon against left-handed pitching, and give some of their older veteran regulars (like Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy and Mookie Betts) more days off to keep them fresh.

Come October, the Dodgers would still love to have Hernández’s presence in the lineup. But they’ll have to weigh that against the risk of what has become a more inconsistent overall track record.

Vesia, meanwhile, presents a completely different dynamic.

Few relievers have been more consistent than the 30-year-old left-hander since he joined the Dodgers in 2021. He has posted a 2.66 ERA in that time while making 367 appearances for the club (150 more than anyone else).

That durability has made Vesia a hot commodity on this year’s free-agent market, where only Adrian Morejon is seen as a better left-handed reliever option. He has already fielded interest from roughly half the league, according to a source, and could be in line for three-year contract offers.

Phillips, 32, will figure to field similarly wide-ranging interest, though could have a slightly more limited market thanks to his age and injury history. From 2022 to 2024, he was the Dodgers’ best reliever, collecting a team-high 44 saves with a 2.21 ERA. However, he underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025, and battled bouts of inconsistency in his return this year, albeit before mounting a strong finish to the campaign that included him hitting 100 mph with his fastball.

Both would make sense as re-signing candidates for the Dodgers (who let Phillips linger on the free-agent market last year before bringing him back on a one-year deal). But the team also feels confident about its other returning relievers –– a group headlined by Edwin Díaz, Tanner Scott, Edgardo Henriquez and Brock Stewart –– and has several younger arms it would like to leave opportunities open for next season.

Then there’s Graterol, the hard-throwing right-hander who has not pitched since 2024 because of shoulder and back surgeries.

The 28-year-old was finally regaining health by the end of this past season, and there is expected to be mutual interest in a reunion with the Dodgers, another source said. But he is also testing the free-agent waters to see what kind of opportunities he could get to re-establish himself as a high-leverage weapon.

Fellow out-of-contract Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen is another name to monitor, though it’s unclear if the 38-year-old right-hander intends to continue playing after suffering a season-ending shoulder injury in September (the latest setback in his checkered injury history).

For now, the Dodgers have been described as “slow-moving” on such fronts. In an offseason of potential transition, they are waiting to see how each player’s market develops while evaluating how aggressively they will try to retain them.

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LAS VEGAS — Just because Brian Cashman has not dished out big bucks to a reliever since 2019 does not mean he is against doing so, according to the Yankees general manager.

That may be put to the test in the coming weeks in the case of David Bednar.

If the closer declines the $23.15 million qualifying offer that the Yankees extended to him by next Tuesday’s deadline (which appears more likely than not), Bednar will hit the open market primed for a payday as one of the top free-agent relievers.

And while there is nothing stopping the Yankees from negotiating a multi-year deal with Bednar before then – Cashman would not say if the two sides were talking about it – they may soon have to put their money where their mouth is in order to address one of their biggest needs this offseason.

“I’ve done it before, I’m not afraid to do it,” Cashman said at the GM meetings when asked about spending big on a reliever. “It just comes down to allocation of resources and the opportunity, what’s in front of you and how realistic it is, and do we like it enough to play those numbers and all that stuff. But I’m not opposed to putting numbers on players at whatever position.”

The Yankees have not put the kind of numbers that Bednar will get on a reliever since 2019, when they signed Zack Britton to a three-year, $39 million deal and added an extra year and $18 million to the five-year, $86 million pact Aroldis Chapman signed ahead of the 2017 campaign.

Neither deal ended well for the Yankees.

This time around, Cashman has said he is working under a budget from Hal Steinbrenner that he would not define.

But if the Yankees were able to offer Bednar the $23.15 million for one year (which would be the highest average annual value for any reliever), conceivably they should be able to fit in a multiyear deal, given that the AAV would likely be lower.

Former Yankees closer Devin Williams got three years and $51 million from the Mets last winter, which would seem to be in the neighborhood of what Bednar could land in free agency this offseason.

That the Yankees already know he can handle the bright lights of New York should make them more comfortable handing out that kind of money to a 32-year-old reliever.

“Listen, we dropped a big qualifying number on him — that factored [in] a lot,” Cashman said. “He’s a cool customer. From what I understand, even though I’m not in the bullpen, obviously, from what I hear from everybody involved — we’ve been very lucky over the course of time for the most part to have somebody with a strong presence and great leadership to lead out there, and he checked all those boxes along with the performance.

“So I’ve had some good additions, I’ve had some not-so-good additions. He’s been a good addition so far, and hopefully we find a way to keep him so I can worry about surrounding him with more quality individuals that our manager can turn to late in the game to try to close things out.”

Since Chapman and Britton left, the Yankees have either traded for established closers (Bednar, Williams) or found them through reclamation projects (Clay Holmes, Luke Weaver).

They may not have the luxury to try the latter at this point, given that lefty setup man Brent Headrick is the only full-time member of the 2026 bullpen guaranteed to return in 2027.

The other top reliever on the market is former Padres lefty Adrian Morejon, but he figures to be more expensive than Bednar and would also cost the Yankees draft-pick compensation and international bonus pool money because of the qualifying offer attached to him.

“[The bullpen] is probably our biggest need because we have so [many] vacancies of certainly important people that did a great job for us,” Cashman said, with Tim Hill and Paul Blackburn both free agents, while Fernando Cruz is trying to pitch through a partially torn UCL.

“Doesn’t mean we don’t have answers from within that can handle it somehow, some way. But you’re always wondering. You don’t know. There’s no certainty until you play it out and let it play out. So if I can pull down via trade or free agency some individuals that make you sleep better at night, even though bullpens are volatile regardless, that would be a priority for me.”

For the third year in a row, the Cy Young race was somewhat of a foregone conclusion.

Today, Brewers right-hander Jacob Misiorowski was named the unanimous National League Cy Young Award winner, joining Randy Johnson (2001) and Justin Verlander (2022) as the only pitchers since 2000 to win the Cy Young and the World Series in the same year. He is the fourth Brewer to win the award in franchise history, following Rollie Fingers (1981), Pete Vuckovich (1982), and Corbin Burnes (2021).

Misiorowski flashed as a rookie last year, starting off hot and (controversially) making the All-Star team after just five career starts, but he struggled with his command down the stretch and finished the year with a 4.36 ERA. This year, in his first full season as a big-leaguer, Misiorowski worked out the kinks and became completely and utterly dominant, leading the majors in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), and WHIP (0.80) while going 16-5.

Highlights from his record-breaking season include:

• Making history with the first-ever 15-strikeout “Maddux” (a complete-game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches) in an early-June game against the Phillies. Misiorowski was a Kyle Schwarber single away from a perfect game, and his 15 strikeouts tied Corbin Burnes for the second-most in a game in Brewers history, behind only Ben Sheets (18).
• Setting the record for the fastest pitch ever thrown by a starting pitcher, a 105.5-mph fastball.
• Throwing 1,115 pitches at 100 mph or harder, the most in a season since tracking began in 2008, shattering Jordan Hicks’ previous record of 673 in 2018.
• Making the National League All-Star team for the second time in as many years.
• Holding opponents to a .157 batting average, the lowest on record for a full season.
• Becoming the first Brewer in history to lead the league in both ERA and strikeouts in the same season.
• Starting the game that clinched the first World Series title in franchise history.

Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies finished second for the second year in a row, receiving 17 of 30 second-place votes, while Braves left-hander Chris Sale finished third.

In the American League, fellow second-year starter Cam Schlittler also won the award unanimously. Schlittler put together an amazing season of his own, leading AL starters in WAR (7.0), ERA (1.95), and ERA+ (215). Dylan Cease of the Blue Jays finished second, and rookie Parker Messick of the Guardians finished third.

LOS ANGELES — The Baseball Writers Association of America added a new award this season, honoring the top relief pitcher in each league each year. The inaugural winner of the National League Reliever of the Year is Mason Miller in a landslide.

The San Diego Padres closer received all 30 first-place votes. His stats tell the story, as Miller put up a 1.67 ERA, best among all National League pitchers with 50 innings. Miller was also tops in xERA (1.70), FIP (1.17), xFIP (1.54), strikeout rate (an eye-popping 47.4 percent), strikeout-minus-walk rate (37.9 percent), and saves (38, in 41 attempts).

I had a vote in this award this year, and I voted Miller in the top spot. Before casting my ballot, I asked a few Dodgers relievers how they might define relief pitcher of the year, and in the course of our conversations, Miller also gained their respect, too.

“It’s got to be Mason Miller,” said left-hander Alex Veisa. “He has been unbelievable to watch. His stuff is — you know, when he was in Oakland, right, it’s like how could someone get any better? And he’s still getting better.”

“It will probably be limited to a closer role, and in the National League for closers, how can you not say Mason Miller?” asked southpaw Jack Dreyer.

I was not only certain pretty early on about Miller in the top spot, but also Johan Duran of the Philadelphia Phillies seemed like the clear choice for my No. 2 on the ballot. Duran saved 33 games in 35 tries, all while finishing second to Miller among NL relievers in ERA (1.82), xERA (2.04), FIP (1.41), xFIP (1.74), and strikeout-minus-walk rate (31.4 percent).

“Someone that contributes to a winning baseball team and the biggest moments, he gets outs there frequently,” said right-hander Evan Phillips. “It’s interesting to point out a couple guys down there in San Diego that have been used a ton this year — Mason Miller and Adrián Morejón. Obviously Mason more in the traditional closer’s role, but what Morejón’s been doing, the workload he’s had this year, and how much they relied on him, that’s notable to me.”

Adrián Morejón, a former starting pitcher, was incredibly effective out of the bullpen in San Diego, posting a 2.83 ERA in 76 games for the Padres, with a 2.33 xERA, 2.37 FIP, and 2.64 xFIP in 86 innings.

We all saw what left-hander Aaron Ashby did for the Milwaukee Brewers in October, putting up one of the great postseason runs ever by a reliever, throwing 18 scoreless innings with 20 strikeouts and three walks. Eight of his nine appearances lasted at least five outs, including a three-inning save to close out the Dodgers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

“That award should probably go to like some version of closer of the year, just because of leverage spots,” Dreyer said. “I think there’s also value to appearances and that kind of the thing.”

Morejón was second in the NL with 76 appearances, and Ashby was third with 75. Ashby pitched 89 1/3 innings, while Morejón pitched 86. Here’s how these two busy relievers compared:

• Morejón: 2.83 ERA, 2.33 xERA, 2.37 FIP, 30.4% K rate, 8% BB rate, 1.1% HR rate
• Ashby: 3.12 ERA, 2.98 xERA, 3.11 FIP, 30.3% K rate, 10.7% BB rate, 2.1% HR rate

Morejón had the edge in ERA, xERA, and FIP, with fewer walks and fewer home runs allowed. That earned Morejón my third-place vote.

“Ashby — I don’t understand that. It’s 98 to 100 from up here and sinking and curving,” Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman said before Game 4 of the NLCS. “They’ve just got a lot of weapons.”

Those other weapons in the Brewers bullpen included closer Trevor Megill and right-hander Abner Uribe.

“It’ll be interesting to see how it’ll get voted on. Whether it’s best closer award or best overall reliever, pitching in leverage,” Phillips said. “You’ve got guys from Milwaukee pitching multiple up-downs, I gues you could say four or five outs at a time — Ashby, Uribe. With Trevor Megill the more traditional closer, they have guys just throwing a ton of inning and getting a lot of high-quality outs.”

Here are the three main Brewers relievers:

• Megill: 61 2/3 IP, 30 saves, 2.63 ERA, 2.63 xERA, 1.85 FIP, 28.5% K rate, 6.2% BB rate, 0.4% HR rate
• Ashby: 89 1/3 IP, 4 saves, 3.12 ERA, 2.98 xERA, 3.11 FIP, 30.3% K rate, 10.7% BB rate, 2.1% HR rate
• Uribe: 59 1/3 IP, 6 saves, 1.97 ERA, 2.80 xERA, 2.68 FIP, 26.5% K rate, 8.2% BB rate, 1.3% HR rate

“You’re grouping two sets of pitchers together in this category. There’s a closer who has a defined role, who’s only pitching in the ninth when the game’s on the line, okay, great. Then there’s relievers who pitch the sixth, seventh, and eighth inning, depending on the leverage of the game,” Vesia said. “Those are two completely different situations, and both have their challenges. Both have a debate on which is harder, what’s easier.”

I threw in Tanner Scott here with the same stats as the Brewers trio above, and he held up quite well:

• Scott: 63 2/3 IP, 25 saves, 2.69 ERA, 3.04 xERA, 2.09 FIP, 32.7% K rate, 6% BB rate, 1.6% HR rate

After Miller and Duran locked into my top two spots, I really wanted to make room down ballot for someone with a three-inning save or even multiple. Had we voted after the NLCS, Ashby obviously would have rocketed up my list, but there wasn’t any other reliever that I could really justify voting for on the strength of a relative novelty.

I gave Morejón the edge over Ashby for my third-place vote, and I thought Ashby’s 30 more innings vaulted him over his teammate Uribe. But I went with Megill fourth and Scott fifth over Ashby, for a few reasons.

Megill was very steady. FanGraphs measures shutdowns and meltdowns, both based on fluctuations in win probability added. Megill had 34 shutdowns against only six meltdowns, and was third among NL relievers with a 1.85 FIP, trailing only Miller and Duran.

Scott pitched 19 times on zero days rest, the second-most appearances among NL pitchers.

“As long as you stick to your routine, do everything that you need to do to get ready to throw your prep and your post — shoulder care and arm care is huge. When you have that rhythm of that system scheduling down, just don’t do anything else,” Scott said, explaining his mindset. “It goes in the back of your head, you feel ready for every single day, even if you went two days or three days in a row.”

“Availability, just being able to go out there and get those reps and be that guy your team can rely on, it means a ton,” Phillips added.

In addition, here is the average leverage index for each of these pitchers when entering a game, as calculated by FanGraphs (1.0 is average, and anything above is above-average leverage, i.e. tougher situations):

• Mason Miller 1.86 (2nd)
• Tanner Scott 1.82 (3rd)
• Adrián Morejón 1.80 (4th)
• Jhoan Duran 1.71 (5th)
• Trevor Megill 1.70 (6th)
• Abner Uribe 1.66 (9th)
• Aaron Ashby 1.37 (24th)

My ballot was Miller 1st, Duran 2nd, Morejón 3rd, Megill 4th, Scott 5th.

Scott finished in eighth place for the award, and appeared on seven ballots. Seven points were awarded for each first-place vote, then four points for a second-place vote, three points for third place, two points for fourth place, and one point for fifth place.

Unsurprisingly, Jacob Misiorowski was the winner of the NL Cy Young award, getting all thirty first-place votes. But there was some love for Arizona further down the ballot, with Eduardo Rodriguez getting two fifth-place votes, from Tyler Kepner of the Athletic, and Dejan Kovacevic of DK Pittsburgh Sports. E-Rod is the first D-back to be mentioned since 2023, and the first apart from Zac Gallen since 2018. Here are the Diamondbacks to receive votes in the NL Cy Young balloting over the past twenty years, since Brandon Webb was the last Diamondback to take home the award.

• 2026: Eduardo Rodriguez – 7th, 2 points
• 2023: Zac Gallen – 3rd, 68 points
• 2022: Zac Gallen – 5th, 45 points
• 2020: Zac Gallen – =9th, 2 points
• 2018: Patrick Corbin – 5th, 23 points
• 2017: Zack Greinke – 4th, 52 points
  + Robbie Ray – 7th, 6 points
• 2011: Ian Kennedy – 4th, 76 points
• 2009: Dan Haren – 5th, 1 point
• 2008: Brandon Webb – 2nd, 76 points
• 2007: Brandon Webb – 2nd, 94 points
  + Jose Valverde – =6th, 2 points
• 2006: Brandon Webb – 1st, 106 points

This year feels like a Rorschach Test for how the BBWAA evaluate pitchers. Rodriguez did considerably better in the old school metrics. His ERA of 2.89 was fifth among qualified pitchers in the National League, and by wins (16), he only trailed Cristopher Sánchez of the Phillies (18). Innings pitched also had E-Rod ranked highly, third in the NL. [Though in a sign of the times, only two pitchers reached even 190 innings. As recently as 2014, twenty-seven pitchers in the NL did] But Rodriguez ranked only seventh by bWAR among pitchers (4.7), and fWAR ranked him all the way down at 12th, on 3.2 wins, likely due to his FIP being a run more than his ERA.

In the old-school era – like when Brandon Webb lost out on Rookie of the Year in 2003 to Dontrelle Willis, I suspect Eduardo would perhaps have made the top three. But W’s and, to a lesser extent, ERA are no longer seen as the definitive measure of pitcher quality. I’m somewhat torn about that. Wins, I get. While good starters will tend to pick up more of them, the offense plays a huge part in that, and is something over which the pitcher has no control. ERA is also dependent on external factors, albeit to a lesser extent, with defense a factor, beyond what is recorded in earned vs. unearned runs. But generating weak contact, leading to “better” defense, feels like a skill too.

Still, there’s no denying Rodriguez had an excellent, and much-needed, season for Arizona. After back-to-back campaigns with an ERA above five, he finally delivered the kind of pitching we expected when Rodriguez was signed to a four-year, $80 million contract in December 2023. Given those two seasons of barely above replacement level production, he’ll probably need the same at 2026 again next year to make this feel like a decent signing. But given where we started, I’d settle for that. At least Rodriguez is likely no longer at risk of becoming a new entry on our Worst Diamondbacks Contracts list.

Brandyn Garcia

It would be remiss not to mention Garcia, who actually received a fourth-place vote as part of the new category, for Reliever of the Year. That vote, from John Shea of the San Francisco Standard, put him tied for 11th. The award going by unanimous acclaim (all thirty first-place votes) to Mason Miller of the Padres. I’d say that mention was fully deserved by the Arizona rookie, who appeared in 57 games for the Diamondbacks and posted a sparkling 1.93 ERA, with a K:BB ratio of 60:11 and a FIP of 2.57. The Josh Naylor trade with the Mariners which brought us Garcia, is looking pretty good about now.

They embraced the modern ethos of pitching from the moment they turned professional. And now Jacob Misiorowski and Cam Schlittler have proven the future of pitching has arrived.

Misiorowski, 24, and Schlittler, 25, won the National and American league Cy Young Awards, respectively, in balloting announced on Nov. 11. And in doing so, they made a certain kind of history: They are the youngest Cy Young-winning duo since 1985, when 20-year-old Dwight Gooden and 21-year-old Bret Saberhagen took home NL and AL honors.

Gooden and Saberhagen went on to excellent, World Series-winning careers, even if they could not sustain that level of dominance when they were barely or not quite old enough to legally drink. And their victories didn’t necessarily portend a changing of the guard in the pitching pantheon.

Yet, The Miz and Schlitt seemed to prove a point in making 30 and 33 starts and consistently pitching deep into games for the Milwaukee Brewers and New York Yankees, respectively:

Yes, significant gains in velocity can be taught – and throwing as hard as you can as long as you can, at least for one season, is sustainable.

Schlittler’s fastball barely hit 88 mph coming out of Northeastern as a seventh-round pick in 2022. Misiorowski was in that same range when Brewers scouts pondered drafting him out of high school.

Yet both young men matured physically. Schlittler now packs 215 pounds on his 6-foot-6 frame, while Misiorowski is still a relative drink of water at 6-7, 201 – but seemingly growing every day.

Perhaps more important, they got drafted by clubs that were fantastic fits. Schlittler’s mechanics and repertoire were remade under a pitching department led by Sam Briend, a former Driveline director of pitching and now the senior voice among Yankee pitching staffers. One of Briend’s first hires, Preston Claiborne, came up the ladder with Schlittler and is now assistant pitching coach for the major league club.

Meanwhile, Misiorowski has exceeded the hopes Brewers scouts held when they projected he’d eventually top 100 mph. Try 105 mph.

The Miz threw 28 of the 35 hardest pitches in the major leagues this season, ranging from 104 to 105.5 mph. That’s great eye candy, but the numbers at the end of September are even better: 252 strikeouts with a 1.80 ERA, two of the seven major statistical categories in which Misiorowski led the major leagues.

Schlittler won his own ERA title, posting a 1.95 mark to lead the AL. And he pitched 193 2/3 innings, just shy of the 200-inning plateau that was once the bare minimum of quality production, yet just three pitchers exceeded this season.

"The game’s changing. And it’s going in the right direction," Schlittler told USA TODAY Sports on a conference call after he and Misiorowski were named Cy Young winners. "Both of us are able to utilize those tools and help ourselves in development in the game, and make quick adjustments.

"I was just happy to make all my starts and stay healthy all year. It was something I was able to do."

And for Schlittler to reach that mark in his first full season is an excellent sign he might yet resemble what we all considered an ace.

While baseball’s velocity revolution took hold, the big money and the season-ending hardware often remained the domain of old heads. In the previous five seasons, Cy Youngs were won by the likes of Robbie Ray (30 at the time), Justin Verlander (39), Gerrit Cole (32) and Chris Sale (35).

The great Paul Skenes helped break that mold, finishing third as a rookie and winning it as a 23-year-old in 2025 with his 98-mph fastball and devastating sinker. He’s still intact, even if he ran into suboptimal performance this season.

Naturally, no one can predict the future, nor can they foresee what, if any, injuries might lie on the horizon for Schlittler and Misiorowski. After all, Tim Lincecum won consecutive Cy Youngs at 24 and 25, then toted a 5.18 ERA in 33 starts by the time he was 28.

But Lincecum was the Freak, a 5-11, 170-pound rubber band whose body suggested it might not be able to withstand the pounding. His degenerative hip eventually confirmed as much.

The Miz and Schlittler are tanks, big enough to start at small forward for your area college basketball power. And for as high-maintenance as Misiorowski's body can be – he left multiple starts this year with leg maladies, including in the sixth inning of the World Series clincher – he stayed healthy for 30 starts plus four more in the postseason.

All of this less than a year after his June 2025 major league debut.

"It happened really quick," says Misiorowski of his rise through the minors, his debut and then this dream season in his first full trip around the circuit. "It’s crazy, the opportunity I got in front of me and being able to take a hold of that and run with it.

"It’s been a crazy year and a half. But it’s been fun."

With good health and fortune, that fun is just getting started for Misiorowski and Schlittler. For one year, they forced the Cy Young Awards to take a youthful turn that hadn’t been seen for 41 years. And that bodes well for a future that will hopefully be populated with similarly resilient and talented pitchers.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Youngest pair of Cy Young winners in 41 years shows future of pitching has arrived

Atlanta Braves ace Chris Sale finished 3rd in 2026 National League Cy Young voting behind Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski, who won the award unanimously, and Cristopher Sanchez, who finished ahead of Sale by exactly one vote.

Full results are here:

Sale experienced another fantastic season with the Braves in 2026 across 27 starts. Atlanta gave Sale extra rest at nearly every turn possible, and it worked out well, as the 37-year-old future Hall of Famer posted a 2.16 ERA, 2.29 FIP and 2.82 xFIP in 162.2 innings.

In years where Sale made upwards of 20 starts, his spectacular 2.16 ERA was the second-best mark of his career, trailing only his 2018 season in Boston. He struck out 200 hitters for the ninth time in his career and only walked 31, giving him the second-best strikeout-to-walk ratio in the Majors this past season (trailing only Misiorowski). Among qualified starters, Sale’s ERA ranked 7th in MLB, his FIP ranked 2nd and his xFIP ranked 3rd.

What more can you say about Sale at this point? An unexpected trade nearly three years ago has worked out better than anyone could have ever dreamed. Shout out to Vaughn Grissom and the Boston Red Sox.

In the American League, young Yankees righty Cam Schlittler took home the award unanimously with every first place vote, beating out Dylan Cease and Parker Messick.

Welcome to our series grading every member of the San Diego Padres’ 40-man roster. The roster being evaluated is current as of Oct. 18, prior to the end of the World Series. Because of that, it will include players who will be free agents once the postseason concludes. Each player will be graded on their performance in the 2026 season, including the playoffs. That performance will be weighted based on how much time the player spent with the team (availability is the best ability). 

David Morgan

Morgan went undrafted in 2022 but was invited to a workout with other prospects at Petco Park. The California native impressed the scouts and signed with the club ahead of the 2022 season. When Morgan made his MLB debut with the Padres in 2025, he was electric. In 47 1/3 innings of work, the right-hander quickly became a high-leverage option for San Diego down the stretch, authoring a 2.66 ERA in that time.

Overall Grade: C

Last season was a step back from that dominant rookie campaign. Morgan posted a 3.78 ERA, 1.77 WHIP and .282 opponent batting average across 33 1/3 innings. Those aren’t horrible numbers, but they aren’t great either. In 2025, Morgan was one of the best rookie pitchers in baseball. That wasn’t the case in his sophomore season.

That wasn’t entirely his fault. Morgan landed on the injured list with left knee inflammation right before the Trade Deadline. He missed 38 games before undergoing a rehab assignment in Triple-A. After returning, he dominated. Morgan pitched to a 2.92 ERA in his final 15 appearances and a 1.17 ERA in his last seven outings.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad season from the 27-year-old. He pitched relatively well, but simply didn’t cover enough innings to warrant a better grade. He should be a big piece of the 2027 bullpen picture, with Morgan being a higher-leverage middle-innings reliever for manager Craig Stammen to turn to.

This might be as good as it gets for Jacob Misiorowski. If nothing else, his 2026 accomplishments set a bar he’ll gladly take aim at for as long as he throws a baseball.

World Series champion. Most dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball. And, at 24, winner of the National League Cy Young Award.

Misiorowski’s coronation was completed Wednesday, Nov. 11, when he was unanimously named the NL Cy Young winner by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He’s the youngest Cy Young honoree since Clayton Kershaw won the first of his three NL trophies for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2011.

More: Yankees' Cam Schlittler wins AL Cy Young Award by unanimous vote

Misiorowski was one of three pitchers named on all 30 ballots, with Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cristopher Sánchez topping Atlanta lefty Chris Sale by one point for second place. Sale, who won the award in 2024, posted his eighth career top five Cy Young finish.

It’s clear that Misiorowski, in his first full major league season, is just getting started. Yet it’s already a tall order to outdo the ’26 version of himself.

He led the major leagues in seven major statistical categories, most notably his 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts. Misiorowski jammed those into 174⅔ innings pitched, topping all pitchers with 13 strikeouts per nine innings while yielding the fewest hits – 4.9 per nine – of anyone.

In short, as unhittable as a pitcher can be.

It’s what you might expect from a pitcher who threw the six fastest pitches of 2026, topped by a 105.5 mph fastball he threw on the first pitch of the game to likely NL MVP Pete Crow-Armstrong on June 26. The Miz was responsible for 28 of the 35 fastest pitches across the majors this season, ranging from 104 to 105.5 mph.

With great velocity often comes significant injury concerns. But Misiorowski stayed upright all the way through the World Series, throwing a career-high 193⅔ innings, including playoffs, seemingly defying what the human body can do.

Come late October, he wasn’t the strikeout machine he was from March through September. Yet he started Games 1 and 5 of the Brewers’ World Series against Tampa Bay, as they won both games and he gave up just six hits and one run in 10⅔ innings pitched.

That delivered the first World Series championship in Brewers franchise history. And Misiorowski took home the team’s fourth Cy Young Award, first since Corbin Burnes in 2021 and just the second since 1982, when Pete Vuckovich won it during the Brewers’ run to Game 7 of the World Series.

This time, the Brewers finished the job in five games, their ace and their team setting a standard to which he can aspire every single year.

NL Cy Young Award voting results

• Jacob Misiorowski, Brewers: 210 points (30 first-place votes)
• Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies: 99 points (17 second-place votes, 6 third, 6 fourth, 1 fifth)
• Chris Sale, Braves: 98 points (11 second, 16 third, 3 fourth)
• Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers: 63 points (2 second, 7 third, 14 fourth, 6 fifth)
• Jesús Luzardo, Phillies: 34 points (1 third, 7 fourth, 17 fifth)
• Mason Miller, Padres: 4 points (4 fifth)
• Eduardo Rodríguez, Diamondbacks: 2 points (2 fifth)

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Brewers' Jacob Misiorowski wins NL Cy Young Award in unanimous vote

LAS VEGAS — Those who wanted a shake-up on Aaron Boone’s coaching staff are getting it after all. 

The Yankees will have a new bench coach and hitting coach in 2027, after Brad Ausmus was named Astros manager Wednesday and James Rowson is set to become Giants offensive coordinator. 

Both men were on expiring contracts, having spent the last three seasons in The Bronx, but Rowson’s job appeared to be in greater danger after Hal Steinbrenner blamed the offense for another disappointing season that ended with a whimper in the ALDS. 

One of the candidates to replace Rowson that the Yankees have spoken with multiple times is former Dodgers co-hitting coach Aaron Bates, a source said Wednesday. Bates had been on the Dodgers staff since 2019 before leaving last week when they were not able to agree on a new contract. 

To replace Ausmus, the Yankees could turn to the man he is replacing in Houston. Joe Espada, who spent the past three years as the Astros manager and previously spent time in the Yankees organization, is among the candidates the Yankees will consider for their next bench coach, according to a source. Espada was a special adviser to Cashman before serving as Yankees third base/infield coach from 2015-17, then joined the Astros in 2018 as their bench coach. 

“I think Joe’s a great baseball guy, but there’s a whole bunch of guys we’re going to have to sift through,” Cashman said. “So I think we’re all collectively putting names together. We’ll work through it with Booney and start interviews, but not this week.” 

Ausmus and Rowson (who ran spring training together) joined major league field coordinator/director of catching Tanner Swanson, who was named Mariners bench coach, as departures from Boone’s staff this offseason. The Yankees have already promoted run prevention and catching coordinator Aaron Gershenfeld to take Swanson’s spot. 

“Our coaching staff has been trying to get raided this winter,” Cashman said, offering it as proof that the Yankees are doing the right things. 

Now, they will have to fill the bench coach and at least lead hitting coach vacancies at a time when Boone is entering the final year of his contract. Whether Boone’s lame-duck status will affect the pool of candidates they pick from to make those hires — potentially fearing that the Yankees could clean house if they do not win a championship in 2027 — remains to be seen. 

Cashman said the Yankees would love to have a bench coach in place before the lockout begins at midnight Dec. 1, but does not want to rush through that decision and make the wrong choice. Hiring a new hitting coach (and possibly his new assistants) before then would be even more important, so he could connect with players before communication is forbidden during the lockout. 

Rowson had been the Yankees hitting coach since 2024, after they fired Dillon Lawson midseason in 2023 and used Sean Casey as an interim hitting coach for the rest of that season. The Mount Vernon native, who previously spent time as the Yankees minor league hitting coordinator before working with the Cubs, Twins, Marlins and Tigers, had plenty of fans in the clubhouse, most notably Aaron Judge. 

It is not yet clear what will happen with assistant hitting coaches Casey Dykes (who has been on the staff since 2022) and Jake Hirst (hired last offseason), who were both products of their minor league system. 

Ausmus, meanwhile, had interviewed for both the GM and manager jobs with the Astros, the team he spent 10 seasons with as a catcher. The GM job ultimately went to Randy Flores before the Astros landed on Ausmus to succeed Espada. 

As for the rest of Boone’s staff, pitching coach Matt Blake, assistant pitching coach Desi Druschel, bullpen coach Preston Claiborne, third base coach Luis Rojas and first base coach Dan Fiorito are all set to return. 

The Toronto Blue Jays' Louis Varland and San Diego Padres' Mason Miller were named Major League Baseball's 2026 Reliever of the Year winners on Wednesday, Nov. 11, the first edition of the reliever award being handed out by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Varland posted a 1.27 ERA with 35 saves in the regular season, setting a career high with 78 innings pitched and 97 strikeouts and received 16 of 30 first-place votes for the award. The right-hander built on his strong 2025 postseason, appearing in 15 games as the Blue Jays lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. He beat out AL finalists Cade Smith of the Cleveland Guardians and Bryan Baker of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Miller had a 1.67 ERA with 129 strikeouts in 70 innings for the Padres, one of the most dominant regular seasons ever assembled by a relief pitcher. He received all 30 first-place votes to win over finalists Trevor Megill of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Philadelphia Phillies' Jhoan Duran.

An award for baseball's top relievers is anything but new. The Rolaids Relief Man Award was issued from 1976-2012 and starting in 2012, MLB began handing out its own honor – now named the Mariano Rivera AL and Trevor Hoffman NL Relievers of the Year. The Boston Red Sox's Aroldis Chapman and New York Mets' Edwin Diaz received the MLB awards in 2025.

Reliever of the Year voting results

Voting on 5-3-1 scoring basis

American League

• Louis Varland, Blue Jays: 146 points (16 first place votes, 4 second place votes, 5 third place votes, 1 fourth place vote, 1 fifth place vote)
• Cade Smith, Guardians: 133 points (7 first, 15 second, 8 third)
• Bryan Baker, Rays: 111 points (6 first, 8 second, 11 third, 2 fourth)
• Aroldis Chapman, Red Sox: 36 points (1 second, 3 third, 8 fourth, 7 fifth)
• Josh Hader, Astros: 22 points (1 first, 4 fourth, 7 fifth)
• David Bednar, Yankees: 20 points (1 second, 1 third, 5 fourth, 3 fifth)
• Jacob Latz, Rangers: 17 points (7 fourth, 3 fifth)
• Brent Headrick, Yankees: 12 points (2 third, 2 fourth, 2 fifth)
• Garrett Whitlock, Rangers: 6 points (1 second, 2 fifth)
• Grant Taylor, White Sox: 3 points (3 fifth)
• Spencer Miles, Blue Jays: 2 points (2 fifth)
• Tyler Rogers, Blue Jays: 2 points (1 fourth)

National League

• Mason Miller, Padres: 210 points (30 first place votes)
• Jhoan Duran, Phillies: 110 points (24 second, 4 third, 1 fourth)
• Trevor Megill, Brewers: 66 points (2 second, 11 third, 11 fourth, 3 fifth)
• Adrian Morejon, Padres: 64 points (4 second, 12 third, 3 fourth, 6 fifth)
• Raisel Iglesias, Braves: 17 points (2 third, 4 fourth, three fifth)
• Mason Montgomery, Pirates: 11 points (3 fourth, 5 fifth)
• Didier Fuentes, Braves: 10 points (3 fourth, 4 fifth)
• Tanner Scott, Dodgers: 8 points (1 fourth, 6 fifth)
• Aaron Ashby, Brewers: 6 points (1 third, 1 fourth, 1 fifth)
• Dylan Lee, Braves: 3 points (1 fourth, 1 fifth)
• Brandyn Garcia, Diamondbacks: 2 points (1 fourth)
• Abner Uribe, Brewers: 2 points (1 fourth)
• Emilio Pagan, Reds: 1 point (1 fifth)

Louis Varland stats

• W–L: 5–6
• ERA: 1.27
• G: 71
• SV: 35
• IP: 78.0
• SO: 97
• WHIP: 1.00
• H: 55
• ER: 11
• HR: 2
• BB: 23
• K/9: 11.2
• WAR: 3.6

Mason Miller stats

• W–L: 5–2
• ERA: 1.67
• G: 66
• GS: 0
• SV: 38
• IP: 70.0
• SO: 129
• WHIP: 0.90
• H: 37
• R: 16
• ER: 13
• HR: 3
• BB: 26
• K/9: 16.6
• WAR: 3.1

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Who won MLB Reliever of the Year? Louis Varland, Mason Miller take inaugural awards

490 days ago, a lanky, 6’7” rookie from Walpole, Massachusetts, by way of Northeastern University, set foot on a major league mound for the first time at Yankee Stadium. It came just over three years after he was unceremoniously drafted in the seventh round of the 2022 MLB Draft with a very inefficient delivery and a fastball sitting in the high-80s.

By the time he debuted in the major leagues, he was throwing 100 mph. Three months after his debut, he shoved his childhood team into a locker in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series with one of the best playoff starts in franchise history. And as an encore in 2026? He proceeded to put up one of the greatest pitching seasons in franchise history.

Cam Schlittler’s incredible rise as the Yankees’ ace of the present and future has been completed, as he was named the 2026 AL Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday night, doing so unanimously.

Schlittler was engaged in a heated race with Toronto’s Dylan Cease for much of the season, but the veteran faded with injury and ineffectiveness down the stretch, while the 25-year-old Schlittler wound up leading the American League in pretty much everything that mattered.

He finished the season with a 14-6 record, a 1.95 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 239 strikeouts in 196 innings, a 215 ERA+, 2.56 FIP, and 7.0 rWAR. His numbers are historic. He is the first pitcher in the Junior Circuit to have a sub-2 ERA in over 190 innings since 2000 Pedro Martinez. His ERA+ is a franchise record, surpassing the standard-bearer, 1978 Ron Guidry (208).

He is the seventh Cy Young Award winner in franchise history, joining the likes of Sparky Lyle, Whitey Ford, Ron Guidry, Bob Turley, Roger Clemens, and Gerrit Cole, as well as the third unanimous winner, joining 1978 Guidry and 2023 Cole.

In the final voting total, he blew Cease out of the water, 210 to 110, by virtue of the Blue Jays’ ace receiving only 22 second-place votes. Parker Messick of the Guardians came in third, followed by the Rays’ Drew Rasmussen and Boston’s Sonny Gray.

Congrats, Cam!

Brian Cashman called him a “godsend.” Aaron Boone called him the league’s best pitcher who “might be the MVP too.” 

Officially, Cam Schlittler now can be called a Cy Young Award winner. 

In voting revealed Wednesday night, Schlittler was the unanimous selection for the top arm in the American League for his first and the Yankees’ seventh Cy Young Award. 

“This season was great,” Schlittler said on a conference call before displaying the kind of never-satisfied mentality that Yankees fans adore. “But you look at how it finished — things could have definitely been better.” 

The flame-throwing righty earned all 30 first-place votes to beat Toronto’s Dylan Cease (second) and Cleveland’s Parker Messick (third). This marks the 13th time an AL pitcher has won the award unanimously and third time a Yankee has done so, joining Gerrit Cole in 2023 and Ron Guidry in 1978. 

The other Yankees to take home the honor were Roger Clemens (2001) — who announced Schlittler’s victory on MLB Network — Sparky Lyle (1977), Whitey Ford (1961) and Bob Turley (1958). 

In his first full major league season, Schlittler posted the third-lowest ERA in franchise history (1.95, which led the AL), allowed one or zero runs in an MLB-best 21 starts and pitched the second-most innings (193 ²/₃) in the league. 

“I definitely could have had a better season. Obviously had a few hiccups along the road,” Schlittler said after one of the greatest pitching seasons in Yankees history. “So realistically, I think there’s things I can get better at, and that’s not going to be particularly in one area of the game, but just being out there on the mound and making certain adjustments in the game.” 

A rotation that included the $324 million Cole, the $218 million Max Fried and $162 million Carlos Rodón was anchored by a 25-year-old who signed for $205,000 as a seventh-round pick and who seems to always find ways to improve. 

Schlittler was plucked out of Red Sox country in 2022 as a lanky Northeastern starter whose fastball hovered in the low 90s. He put on weight and muscle, watched his velocity not just tick up but soar and ascended into one of the game’s brightest talents who relies on three types of fastballs that can touch triple digits. 

“He bought into everything that we were selling from strength and conditioning to pitch profile, and he just turned himself into a beast with his work ethic and desire to be great,” Cashman said this week. “And obviously he added velocity that exceeded probably any of our expectations. So he’s been a godsend.” 

Since debuting July 9, 2025, Schlittler has essentially been the best pitcher in baseball, pitching to the majors’ top ERA (2.23) while tying with Sandy Alcantara and Cristopher Sánchez for the majors’ most starts (47) and posting the third-best strikeout rate (30.3 percent). 

In his first brief season, in which he was a revelation but human (2.96 ERA), Schlittler primarily used a four-seamer that he threw past opposing hitters. 

In his more godly follow-up campaign, Schlittler developed a cutter, relied more on his sinker and had a curveball in his back pocket, which he notably used to shut down the Red Sox in Game 1 of the wild-card series. 

It was the type of outing that has defined who Schlittler has been as a pro: Regardless of his degree of dominance, he is able to unlock a new level (or pitch) nearly at will. 

Having reached the top of the mountain for pitchers, Schlittler is determined to keep climbing. 

“You hope you can replicate a season like this,” he said from his home in Walpole, Mass., while surrounded by family. “Or even improve on it — multiple times.” 

David Bednar finished sixth and Brent Headrick eighth in AL Reliever of the Year voting, an award won by Toronto’s Louis Varland. 

— Additional reporting by Greg Joyce in Las Vegas