Odds to Win MLB’s 2026 Cy Young: Updated Trackers & Betting Lines (May 27)

Looking across the game of baseball, every given night, we are getting treated to brilliant pitching performances by one of the game’s top arms.

Due to the evolution of technology, pitchers have more information at their disposal than ever before, which has leveled the playing field for all different types of pitchers to find success.

With pitchers now utilizing arsenals of optimized pitch shapes, we have seen phenoms burst onto the scene looking more dominant than ever before, as well as veterans finding the best version of themselves much later in their careers.

All of this leads to a wide-open race each year when it comes to the AL and NL Cy Young Awards, as we had not seen a back-to-back winner in five years before Tarik Skubal accomplished that feat in the American League last season.

An award that was once dominated by past Cy Young Award winners Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw has suddenly been passed around more frequently in recent years.

Looking at the 2026 Cy Young odds, we see a collection of dynamic arms that all have the ability to put together a dominant stretch as the best pitcher in their league. Who will win MLB’s Cy Young Awards?

Throughout the season, we will continue to update this post with the latest betting odds in both the AL and NL for the Cy Young Award. We will give insight on how these races are unfolding week-over-week, and which players are worth investing in to win the award.

Let’s dive into the odds to see which superstars are making their presence felt so far in the 2026 MLB Cy Young races. All odds provided are courtesy of BetMGM. For new users, use code JUSTBASEBALL for a first-bet offer up to $1500 if your first pick loses.

Current Cy Young Award Odds: Top Contenders for 2026

Before we dive a little bit deeper into the races in each respective league, let’s just take a look at the current updated odds from BetMGM in the two Cy Young races.

2026 American League Cy Young Odds

The battle for the AL Cy Young was looking like a two-horse race between Tarik Skubal and Garrett Crochet when the season began, but a lot has changed after the first month of the season has passed.

It started when Garrett Crochet had multiple blow-up outings early on, most notably when Crochet was tagged for 10 ER in 1.2 IP and 3 BB on 4/13, and soon thereafter was placed on the injured list (4/26) with left shoulder inflammation.

In order to win a Cy Young, you essentially have to post, which means stay healthy for the whole season, and avoid astronomical blow-up starts that can inflate ERA’s into high numbers not necessarily reflective of your capabilities but hurt your award case.

With this combination of the injury and horrendous ERA (6.30), Crochet has essentially been eliminated in the Cy Young race as denoted by BetMGM pulling his odds from the betting market.

Essentially the same happened to 3rd place finisher in last year’s race Hunter Brown. Aside from the lack of blow-up starts, after just 2 appearances Brown went on the IL with right shoulder inflammation and likely won’t accrue enough counting stats like WAR or IP to be a heavy consideration for the Cy Young.

With both of these players effectively not in the race, the award truly felt like it was Skubal’s to lose.

Devastatingly, on May 4th after going 7.0 IP and 2 ER against the Atlanta Braves a few days prior Skubal was diagnosed with lose bodies in his throwing elbow and will miss multiple months recovering from surgery.

In a huge walk-year season for Skubal, an injury like this is crushing especially after pitching so well to start the season too.

With all 3 of last years top Cy Young vote-getters off the board, the race has heavily shaken up.

On the contrary, Jose Soriano of the Los Angeles Angels has bursted onto the scene in the AL Cy Young race with numbers that jump off the page. With a 3.09 FIP and a 2.44 ERA through 11 starts, Soriano has acrued 1.6 fWAR.

Just like Soriano, young phenom Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees has quickly jumped onto the board for the American League Cy Young as well. Sporting a dazzling 1.50 ERA through 12 starts, leading the entire league in pitching fWAR with 2.9 and a 1.91 FIP, the advanced analytics will tell you this is a dominant force on the mound.

North of the border, Dylan Cease had been making crazy strides in the odds up until May 25th, when he was placed on the Injured List with a left hamstring strain. Until that point, Cease was striking out batters at a ridiculous rate (35.7%) and BetMGM had dropped his odds from +2000, to +210, which at the time only trailed Cam Schlittler.

Even barring the injury news, the new top 3 in the AL Cy Young race consists of Cam Schlittler, Jacob DeGrom, along with newcomer Dylan Cease.

2026 National League Cy Young Odds

Unlike the race in the AL, the National League race has been much more tame, at least injury-wise.

With Phillies ace Zack Wheeler on the shelf to begin the season, the unanimous 2025 Cy Young winner Paul Skenes opened up the 2026 season as the betting favorite to go back-to-back to nobody’s surprise.

Despite a rough outing on opening day in Queens, Skenes had held onto the title as the favorite for the award up until this week. Through 11 starts this year, Skenes has produced a 3.00 ERA, with a FIP of 2.86, and has 1.6 fWAR.

Looking beyond the surface level stats on Skenes, he’s got a bright red savant page that suggests he should be even better. Backing up the notion that the opening day gaffe against the Mets was just an aberration, Skenes boasts 2.41 xERA which is in the 95th percentile.

Looking down the board, Shohei Ohtani and Mason Miller are making crazy noise in the NL race.

Starting with Ohtani, Shohei has posted 0.73 ERA in 8 starts giving up just 4 earned run through 49 IP. Admittedly it’s a small sample size, but Ohtani has a comical 539 ERA+ this year which denotes that he has pitched roughly 5.5 times better than the league average pitcher.

Padres closer Mason Miller has climbed the board fast, seeking to become the first reliever to win the award since Eric Gagne did it in 2003. Miller has converted all 16 of his save opportunities so far in 2026, but what’s even more wild is that he has only allowed 2 earned runs.

Miller in 23 appearances this year has allowed just 10 hits and 9 walks, while striking out 47. That’s good for a ridiculous FIP of 0.25!!!

Aside from Miller and his astounding start to 2026, the run Phillies’ ace Cristopher Sanchez is on needs to be highlighted. Through 5/27, Sanchez hasn’t given up a SINGLE earned run in May!! His ERA on the year is 1.62, and all the peripherals back-up the results he is earning.

So much so, Sanchez has claimed the spot as the odds leader in the NL for the Cy Young.

We said in earlier betting previews that the only way Skenes would likely lose the Cy Young in 2026 would be if he sustained an injury to miss ample time, or if another pitcher had a season so historic that it would outweigh the elite production we know Skenes will provide.

Look, we all know it’s not the biggest sample so far, but it seems that in 2026 we might have a NL Cy Young race that could go down to the wire between the two arguable best starting pitchers in the sport.

How to Follow the MLB Cy Young Odds

When betting on awards futures, timing is everything. Knowing when it is right to strike is half the battle in making sure you are finding value on the board. Right now, there may be more value looking towards the dark horses in the Cy Young races, since things are still very wide-open in each league.

Early on, it’s hard to lock up a Cy Young award, but it’s rather easy to get buried in the race. Really bad blow-up starts can inflate ERA’s to levels that will take multiple stellar outings to recover from, which can extremely hinder your chances in the long run.

Look for players who are performing well, and more importantly, have advanced metrics solidifying their short-term results. These are the real money-makers in the end.

Spreading one of your units across two or three arms with longer odds may be better than going all-in on one arm that is a favorite with shorter odds.

The best way to follow the odds is to check weekly, follow the trends, and always remember what the BBWAA voters are going to value above everything else in the Cy Young race, ERA, and WAR. Follow those two key statistics and pay attention to what the odds are telling us each week to find value in betting on this futures market.