Two Straight Cy Young Awards has Tigers’ Tarik Skubal Chasing Legends

Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal enters the 2026 season chasing two of the game’s true pitching legends after winning his second straight Cy Young.

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Tarik Skubal (29) throws against the Seattle Mariners during the third inning during game five of the ALDS round for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images

Tarik Skubal’s second straight American League Cy Young award put the Detroit Tigers ace in rare are among those that have won the award back-to-back.

Now, with the 2026 season approaching, he is on the path to doing something that only two other pitchers have ever done — win three or more Cy Young awards in a row.

Skubal, a left-hander, is coming off a 13-6 season with a 2.21 ERA and an AL leading 6.5 bWAR. He struck out 241 and walked 33. In 2024, he won his first Cy Young award after he went 18-4 with a Major League-leading 6.4 bWAR. He also led the Majors with 228 strikeouts as he won the AL pitching triple crown.

If he intends to keep his streak alive, he’ll have to emulate the types of seasons that Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux had when they won four straight Cy Young awards. They’re the only two pitchers that have won three or more Cy Young awards in Major League history.

Randy Johnson (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)

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Johnson had already won one Cy Young award in 1995 with the Seattle Mariners. He landed with Arizona as a free agent after he was traded to the Houston Astros midway through the 1998 season. With the Diamondbacks, he dominated the National League.

During that stretch, he led the NL win bWar twice and the Majors in bWAR twice. He won at least 21 games twice, including an MLB-leading 24 wins in 2022. He led the NL in ERA three times and the Majors once. He also made 35 starts in three of those seasons. Notably, he led the Majors in strikeouts all four seasons, with a high of 372 in 2001, the year the Diamondbacks beat the New York Yankees in the World Series.

In that four-year span he went 81-27 with a 2.48 ERA, 1,417 strikeouts and 288 walks. He pitched in 140 games, with 139 starts and 31 complete games, with 11 shutouts. He finished his career with a record of 303-166 and 4,875 strikeouts.

Greg Maddux (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995)

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Maddux won four straight awards in the NL but started that streak with the Chicago Cubs in 1992 when he went 20-11 with a 2.18 ERA. He signed as a free agent with Atlanta before the 1993 season and won the next three awards. In that span he led the Majors in wins once, the NL in wins two other times and the Majors in ERA three times. He also led the Majors in complete games twice and the NL in shutouts twice.

His style was the complete antithesis of Johnson, but it was successful. In his four-year Cy Young span he went 75-29 with a 1.98 ERA in 124 starts, with 37 complete games and 11 shutouts. He struck out 733 and walked 176.

He wrapped up his 23-year career with a record of 355-227 and a 3.16 ERA with 3,371 strikeouts and 999 walks.