Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski and New York Yankees Cam Schlittler won the 2026 NL and AL Cy Young award, respectively, and deservedly so after the seasons that they had. Moreover, both of them won the vote in unanimous fashion, which is only the third time in MLB history where both winners garnered all first-place votes.

Any team in the big leagues would take either of those two aces. Both of them are young (Misiorowski is 24, Schlittler is 25), under team control for at least five more seasons, and they have significant postseason experience that makes them capable of fronting any starting rotation for the next decade or so.

But for MLB Now analyst Brian Kenny, he believes that Misiorowski is the superior pitcher. For starters, he allowed an ERA of 1.80 in 174.2 innings in 2026 — which is good for the third-best ERA+ (adjusting for ERA and park factors) in a single season for any starting pitcher.

Jacob Misiorowski vs. Cam Schlittler

BK digs in on which Cy Young frontrunner had the better season. pic.twitter.com/KSXe057UDH

— MLB Now (@MLBNow) November 11, 2026

Moreover, Misiorowski, according to Kenny, faced the third-most difficult schedule, while Schlittler, despite playing in the AL East, faced the second-easiest slate. Thus, better performance against better opposition weighs heavier for Kenny, giving the Brewers star the edge.

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Just to further his point, Misiorowski's elite velocity, with his 100.5 mile per hour fastball, induced so much weak contact. He allowed a barrel rate of just 3.6%, which is the lowest among pitchers with at least 125 innings pitched, and he paired that with elite velocity — a rare combination.

Nonetheless, Schlittler also has healthy velocity, as he averaged 98 on his four-seamer, and he put up a sub-2.00 ERA as well, finishing with a 1.95 ERA. He also struck out 239 in 193.2 innings across 33 starts, so this is not at all a knock from Kenny on the Yankees ace's level of play.

But at the end of the day, the margins are so thin between the two aces that it's difficult to make a definite declaration on who has the better long-term outlook.