AL’s Best Pitcher Isn’t MLB’s Best—Tarik Skubal’s Ranking Explained
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The final rankings for MLB.com's Top 100 Players Right Now have been finalized with several familiar names at the top of the list. For the Detroit Tigers, ace pitcher and back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal cracked the Top 10 for the first time in his career after ranking 11th in 2024.
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Skubal ranks as the eighth-best player in the MLB going into spring training, and by the looks of things, he'll represent Detroit with that ranking following the latest trade update. Skubal was the top-ranked pitcher in these same rankings in 2024 following his Triple Crown season, but this year is a different story.
National League Cy Young Award winner Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates surpassed Skubal by one spot in the rankings after ranking 15th in 2024.
Who Deserved To Be Ranked No. 1?
There are reasons Skenes stands above Skubal, but there are also reasons the Tigers' ace should have been ranked the best pitcher in baseball for two seasons in a row. Let's break down those reasons for Skenes's case and for Skubal's case for who should have been ranked the No. 1 pitcher.
For Skenes: Historic Season
As noted by Brian Murphy of MLB.com, Skenes's 2025 campaign was arguably the best season by any Pirates pitcher in franchise history. He finished the year with a 1.97 ERA with 216 strikeouts in 187.2 innings pitched, with a WAR of 7.7. Not to mention, he was the fifth-youngest pitcher in MLB history to win the Cy Young Award.
For a Pittsburgh team that has had its struggles for several seasons, Skenes has been the bright spark for the franchise, similar to how Skubal has been with the Tigers.
For Skubal: Back-to-Back Winner
Skubal may not have been a back-to-back Triple Crown winner, but his 2025 campaign was on par with what he did in 2024, earning the highest award a pitcher in the AL could win. His 2024 success landed the Tigers in the playoffs, but his 2025 success steered the ship all season long.
Skubal became the 12th player in MLB history to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards this past season and the first to do so since Jacob deGrom in 2018-19. This statistic alone should have held weight when deeming who the best pitcher in the league is, but it must have been overlooked by this Skenes stat.
For Skenes: Unanimous
Skenes earned 30 first-place votes for the Cy Young Award last season, whereas Skubal finished with 26, losing out on four votes that went to Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox. While the two pitchers are very comparable, it was likely this stat that gave Skenes the extra inch over Skubal.
Besting Christopher Sanchez of the Philadelphia Phillies, Skenes' season could have only been better if he and the Pirates found their way to the postseason, something Skubal and Detroit did (even though they almost didn't down the stretch).
For Skubal: Arguably Better Numbers
While Skenes had the better ERA, Skubal collected more strikeouts, had a higher K%, walked fewer batters, and did so in more innings pitched (195.1). Win-Loss records for starting pitchers are subjective, as they might not tell the whole story, but Skubal had a better record than Skenes as well.
Skubal pitched ahead in counts more often than Skenes and held batters to a lower opposing batting average with runners in scoring position than Skenes as well, according to Baseball Reference. These sorts of stats likely don't factor into the rankings, but they were interesting to look at, to say the least.
The consecutive Cy Young Award-winning seasons still put Skubal at the top of the American League, but it seems that this decision to have Skenes over Skubal could have been decided with a flip of a coin or by a matter of inches. It's intriguing to see what happens for these two in 2026.
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Dominic Minchella is a 2024 Eastern Michigan University graduate with a BA in Communications, Media, and Theatre Arts and a Journalism minor. He covers Major League Baseball for On SI and spends his free time watching games and sharing his insights.