Burgeoning Nationals Ace Earns Votes in First NL Cy Young Poll
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The Washington Nationals have enjoyed a breakout campaign for their ace and he could be playing himself into the conversation for one of baseball's most prestigious awards.
MLB.com released its first NL Cy Young poll of the season and MacKenzie Gore received some attention. He didn't make the Top 5, but did find himself in the "others receiving votes" section.
Los Angeles Dodgers ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a hefty lead as he received 22 first-place votes and no one else had more than four.
Even a top-10 finish would be a fantastic step forward in Gore's career, though, as he has never even made an All-Star team. The youngster absolutely deserves the attention he is getting.
What does Mackenzie Gore's breakout mean for the Nationals?
The Nationals acquired Gore from the San Diego Padres back in 2022 as a part of the infamous Juan Soto trade. That deal has netted multiple stars for the team, including James Wood.
The 26-year-old has been improving with each campaign and has found another level to his performance in 2025.
Through his first nine starts, Gore has posted a 3.59 ERA with an MLB-leading 75 strikeouts in 52.2 innings of work.
His control has been one of the main reasons for the newfound success. His Stuff+ numbers are actually down and his velocity has dipped, but the locations of his pitches has been elite.
Gore's been getting it done in a different way and the results speak for themselves.
He has forced a lot more swings-and-misses this season. For someone that gets hit hard when he does get hit, that is very important.
In five of his nine starts, he has allowed two or fewer earned runs. The most he's given up is four, which has happened twice.
Washington has only gone 3-6 in his starts and that's not fully his fault. He looks like he is becoming a perfect cornerstone player for the future of their rotation.
The Nationals have two former pitchers that have won an NL Cy Young. Pedro Martinez did it in 1997 as a member of the Montreal Expos and then Max Scherzer did it back-to-back for Washington in 2016 and 2017.
It would be shocking if Gore ends up in the same conversation as either of those two pitchers, a current Hall of Famer and a future first ballot one, but it is still fantastic company for the Nationals ace to be in.
