Cy Young Betting Odds for 2025: Which Pitcher Is Taking Home the Hardware This Year? (June 2025)

Looking across the game of baseball, every given night, we are getting treated to a brilliant pitching performance 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 have not seen a back-to-back winner since prior to the 2022 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 2025 Cy Young odds, we see a collection of dynamic arms that all have the ability to put together a dominant stretch of a few months to close out the 2025 season 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 2025 MLB MVP 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 2025

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.

2025 American League Cy Young Odds

Looking at the odds for the AL Cy Young race right now, one arm remains well ahead of the others. Reigning AL Cy Young Tarik Skubal is the favorite once again. Still, Garrett Crochet, Hunter Brown or Max Fried could certainly give him a run for his money.

Looking a little further down the board, there are still some exciting upside plays. For instance, two-time Cy Young Jacob deGrom is finally healthy, and he just turned in his best start of the season last week. He has not been striking out batters at the same elite rate he did in the past, but if blowing hitters away less means staying on the mound more, then deGrom could be a sneaky pick to get better and better as the season wears on.

Meanwhile, if you’re looking for a dark horse, Kris Bubic, whose 1.92 ERA puts him just behind Brown and Fried of the AL lead.

Skubal might be the frontrunner, but this race is still closer than the MVP competition in the American League.

2025 National League Cy Young Odds

Paul Skenes has begun to break away as even more of a clear favorite than Skubal. It now seems far more likely than not that the Pittsburgh Pirates phenom will take home his first Cy Young in 2025.

With that said, there are plenty of aces in the National League who could run down Skenes, most notably Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Zack Wheeler. Former Cy Young winners Robbie Ray and Chris Sale are a couple of interesting dark horse contenders.

AL Cy Young Odds: American League Favorites

While there are a lot of incredible starting pitchers in the game of baseball, it is hard to argue that anyone is truly better than Tarik Skubal right now.

Skubal is leading what has become a powerhouse in Detroit, as the Tigers have carried over the magic from their Cinderella run to the playoffs last year and built on that momentum to build an early lead in the AL Central.

At this point, it doesn’t seem like anything is going to slow Skubal down, making him the clear favorite to win this award. At the same time, Max Fried is enjoying a career year with the Yankees, Garrett Crochet has hit the ground running in his first year with the Red Sox, and young Astros hurler Hunter Brown is in the middle of a leap to ace status that could have him in this race all season long.

If I had to pick one of these three to pull off an upset, I’d wager on Fried right now. He has been even better than advertised in his first year in pinstripes, with a 1.89 ERA through 15 starts.

In addition, the narrative is so good for Fried right now. The first big signing the Yankees made after missing out on Juan Soto, Fried has filled in for another mega star in Gerrit Cole atop the Yankees rotation.

If Fried continues to fill those shoes and lead one of the best teams in baseball, there are going to be a lot of writers who will be moved to reward a veteran who has been in the mix for Cy Youngs before, but has never quite gotten to the mountaintop.

Big-Time Dark Horses for AL Cy Young in 2025

Kris Bubic of the Royals has gone from afterthought to intriguing dark horse. With the way he’s pitching, could he soon become a serious Cy Young contender? It’s starting to look that way.

Framber Valdez is another interesting name that has made his way onto the board. The southpaw has been one of the most consistent top-end starters in the AL for years, and he’s finished top 10 in Cy Young voting each of the past three seasons. Another high finish could help him earn a massive contract in free agency this coming winter.

Meanwhile, Carlos Rodón is finally pitching like an ace again after a couple of rough years to begin his Yankees tenure. Nathan Eovaldi has terrific numbers, but he has seen his odds tumble after landing on the IL.

NL Cy Young Odds: National League Favorites

Considering the level of fanfare he has received since making his debut last season, it is hard to see anyone winning the NL Cy Young but Paul Skenes.

Every start for Skenes is appointment television, and his stuff is as good as anyone’s in baseball. There is no doubt that a Cy Young Award is in Skenes’ future at some point. The question is if that first one will come this year, or if he still has to wait a bit before it’s his time. It’s starting to look more and more as if that trophy is just a few months away.

His toughest competitor will be Zack Wheeler, the elder statesman in this race. He has never won the award but has come in second place in two of the last four years.

As for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, he remains in the race, but a tough toss his last time out has pushed his odds down below Wheeler’s.

While there’s certainly a case to be made for Wheeler to finally get his Cy Young, or for Yamamoto to sustain his excellent start and prove why he received the largest contract ever for a starting pitcher, this is still Skenes’ award to lose right now.

Yes, he is only 22 years old and is still learning how to navigate MLB in his first true wire-to-wire full season in the show. But few pitchers have been more polished at his age.

Also, it’s hard to forget how Skenes ended up running away with 23 of the 30 votes for Rookie of the Year last year, despite a fantastic season from his adversary in the race, Jackson Merrill. Both were deserving of winning the Rookie of the Year, but Skenes got way more support.

If the race is close, Skenes’ popularity could be a deciding factor in this race, so I would not bet on another pitcher if the odds remain this close.

Big-Time Dark Horses for NL Cy Young in 2025

Looking at the dark horses to win the NL Cy Young, there are a few names that jump out. Reigning winner Chris Sale has put a slow start behind him, while 2021 AL Cy Young Robbie Ray is turning back the clock after two seasons lost to injury. His teammate Logan Webb remains one of the most durable and consistent aces in the game.

Freddy Peralta and Cristopher Sánchez are new to the board this week. They are two of the more under-the-radar top-flight starters in the league.

Meanwhile, MLB ERA leader Kodai Senga is sporting a 1.47 ERA through 13 starts this season, but he has fallen off the board after suffering a hamstring injury.

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.

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.