Level 1 — Absolute Beginner

In baseball, the pitcher throws the ball. A good pitcher is very important for a team. Every year, the best pitchers in America win a big prize.

The prize is called the Cy Young Award. There are two winners, because American baseball has two leagues.

This year the winners are Cam Schlittler and Jacob Misiorowski. Schlittler is on the New York Yankees. Misiorowski is on the Milwaukee Brewers.

Thirty writers vote in each league. This year all thirty writers chose Schlittler, and all thirty chose Misiorowski. That is very rare. The two men are young, and fans think they will win again.

pitcher

The person in baseball who throws the ball to the batter.

throws

Sends something through the air with the hand.

team

A group of people who work together in a sport.

prize

Something you get when you win.

award

A prize for doing something very well.

leagues

Groups of sports teams that compete against each other.

vote

To choose someone in an official way.

rare

Not happening often.

Level 2 — Elementary

Two young pitchers have won baseball's most important pitching prize, and both of them received every possible first-place vote. Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees won the Cy Young Award in the American League, and Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers won it in the National League. The results were announced on Wednesday, November 11.

Thirty baseball writers vote in each league. It is unusual for all of them to agree. This is only the third time in history that both winners were unanimous in the same year. The last time was in 2022.

Schlittler is in only his second season in the major leagues. He won 14 games and lost 6, and he was the hardest starting pitcher in his league to score against. He is the first Yankee to win the award since Gerrit Cole in 2023.

Misiorowski won 16 games and lost 5. He struck out 252 batters, more than anyone else in the National League, and he set a new record for the Brewers. A few weeks ago he also helped Milwaukee win the World Series.

received

Got something that was given or sent.

announced

Told the public about something officially.

unusual

Not normal or common.

unanimous

Agreed by everyone who voted.

season

The part of the year when a sport's games take place.

score

To get a point or a run in a game.

struck out

Made a batter fail three times, so that the batter is out.

record

The best result that has ever been reached.

Level 3 — Intermediate

Baseball's voters could not find a single reason to disagree. Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees and Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers were named the winners of the 2026 Cy Young Awards on Wednesday, each collecting all 30 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America. It is only the third time that both leagues have produced a unanimous winner in the same year, and the first since Justin Verlander and Sandy Alcantara in 2022.

The award, first given in 1956 and now presented to the best pitcher in each league, is named after Cy Young, who won a record 511 games around the start of the twentieth century. The key statistic for judging pitchers is the earned run average, or ERA: the number of runs a pitcher gives up for every nine innings. Lower is better, and anything under 2.00 is exceptional.

Both winners got there. Schlittler, a right-hander in his first full season, finished with 14 wins, 6 losses and an American League best ERA of 1.95, striking out 239 batters in 193 and two-thirds innings. That ERA is the third lowest in the long history of the Yankees, behind Spud Chandler in 1943 and Ron Guidry in 1978. He beat Dylan Cease of Toronto and Parker Messick of Cleveland.

Misiorowski was even stingier. He went 16 and 5 with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 174 and two-thirds innings, leading the National League in both categories. His ERA broke a Brewers record that had stood since 1978. He then helped Milwaukee win the World Series. The other finalists were Cristopher Sanchez of Philadelphia and Chris Sale of Atlanta.

The winners were revealed on television by Roger Clemens, who won the award seven times. The MVP awards, for the most valuable athlete in each league, will be announced on Thursday.

disagree

To have a different opinion.

collecting

Receiving or gathering.

statistic

A number that shows a fact or measurement.

innings

The periods into which a baseball game is divided.

exceptional

Much better than usual.

right-hander

A person who throws with the right hand.

stingier

Giving away even less.

finalists

The last few competitors still in a contest before the winner is chosen.

Level 4 — Advanced

Unanimity is rare in a sport that loves an argument, which makes Wednesday's Cy Young announcements remarkable twice over. Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees and Jacob Misiorowski of the Milwaukee Brewers each swept all 30 first-place ballots cast by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, only the third time in the award's seventy-year history that both leagues have returned a unanimous verdict in the same season. The previous instance, Justin Verlander and Sandy Alcantara in 2022, honored a veteran and an established star. This one crowns two pitchers who have barely begun.

Schlittler, a right-hander completing his first full year in the majors, went 14 and 6 with a 1.95 earned run average, the best in the American League, and struck out 239 against 49 walks over 193 and two-thirds innings and 33 starts. Only two qualified pitchers in the history of baseball's most storied franchise have posted a lower figure: Spud Chandler, at 1.64 in the war year of 1943, and Ron Guidry, at 1.74 in 1978. He is the seventh Yankee to win the award and the first since Gerrit Cole in 2023. Dylan Cease of Toronto and Parker Messick of Cleveland completed the list of finalists.

Misiorowski's season was, by most measures, better still. The Milwaukee right-hander finished 16 and 5 with a 1.80 ERA and 252 strikeouts in 174 and two-thirds innings, leading the National League in both categories and allowing fewer than five hits per nine innings. His ERA obliterated a club record, Mike Caldwell's 2.36, that had survived for nearly half a century. He then added two wins in a postseason that ended with the Brewers as World Series champions. Cristopher Sanchez of Philadelphia and Chris Sale of Atlanta trailed him in the voting. It is the second consecutive unanimous result in the National League, after Paul Skenes of Pittsburgh last year.

There is a wider point in the numbers. An ERA beginning with a one was, for decades, a once-in-a-generation event. That both leagues' best pitchers have now managed it in the same summer, and that the National League has now returned unanimous verdicts two years running, says something about an era in which young arms throw harder, and are handled more carefully, than any before them. Whether those arms last is the question that follows every such season.

Fittingly, the announcement was made by Roger Clemens, a seven-time winner. The MVP awards follow on Thursday.

unanimity

Complete agreement among everyone in a group.

ballots

Votes, or the papers on which votes are recorded.

verdict

A decision or judgment reached after consideration.

veteran

A person with long experience in an activity.

storied

Famous and with a long, celebrated history.

franchise

A professional sports team and the organization that owns it.