The Baseball Writers’ Association of America will hand out the Cy Young Awards for each league on Wednesday.

Outside of Chris Sale (2024 NL Cy Young Award), the remaining five candidates have never won the Cy Young Award. In the National League, the flamethrowing Jacob Misiorowski figures to be the front-runner, but he’ll face stiff competition in the form of the Phillies' Cristopher Sánchez and Sale.

Over in the American League, the Yankees’ Cam Schlittler is also viewed as the favorite, and is joined by Dylan Cease and Parker Messick.

Here's a look at the case for each of the six Cy Young Award candidates (listed by league and in alphabetical order) before the winners are announced at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday on MLB Network.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Dylan Cease, RHP, Blue Jays

For a long stretch of this season, straight through the summer months, Cease looked like he had a legitimate shot at his first Cy Young Award. Back in 2022 with the White Sox, Cease finished second in voting behind Justin Verlander.

Cease’s case rests on his massive ceiling, the high-end dominance few pitchers in this game are even capable of. His 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings set a new Blue Jays record for qualified pitchers and his 237 strikeouts were the fourth-most in franchise history behind only Robbie Ray and Roger Clemens (twice), both of whom won Cy Youngs.

At his peaks in 2026, no one was doing it like Cease. He carried a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the Giants back in July, and later that month, struck out 12 Red Sox batters over a complete-game, one-hit performance. It looked like you put an elite closer’s raw talent and aggression in the body of a workhorse starter, such a rare and dangerous combination.

With the Blue Jays, Cease leaned heavily on his brilliant slider and his fastball, which often flirted with triple digits, but he also finally found the sweet spot with a changeup to round out his arsenal. We’ve seen Cease’s dominance plenty in the past, in both the AL and NL, but this may have been the most complete version of him. If it weren’t for shoulder inflammation late in the season, which came alongside a drop in velocity, Cease may have chased Schlittler right down to the finish line in this race. -- Keegan Matheson

Parker Messick, LHP, Guardians

It’s hard to perform in the Major Leagues as a rookie, let alone excel as one. And yet, Messick (who was also an AL Rookie of the Year Award finalist) made it look routine this past season, to put himself into some rare air. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 25-year-old is just the sixth rookie to be named a Cy Young Award finalist, following Mark Fidrych (1976), Fernando Valenzuela (‘81), Dwight Gooden (‘84), José Fernández (2013) and Paul Skenes (‘24).

Messick’s candidacy rests on his consistency and reliability. He recorded a 2.56 ERA (sixth among qualified MLB starters), along with 193 strikeouts in 186 1/3 innings (seventh). His 6.3 WAR (per Baseball Reference) ranked second to Schlittler (7.0) among AL pitchers, above Cease (5.6).

If you break down his starts, Messick allowed three or fewer runs 29 times, two or fewer runs 24 times, and one or zero runs 16 times. He did so with a six-pitch mix that featured one of the most valuable individual offerings in the Majors. Messick's four-seam fastball had the fourth-highest run value (+26) of any offering in MLB.

Messick consistently gave the Guardians a chance to win this past season. He was ace-like. Schlittler is viewed by many as the favorite here, but no matter where Messick finishes, him being a finalist is a testament to what he achieved in his first full big league campaign. -- Tim Stebbins

Cam Schlittler, RHP, Yankees

Making his mark on the national stage with a dominant shutdown of the Red Sox to conclude last year’s American League Wild Card Series, Schlittler raised his game to new levels in his first full big league season, going 14-6 with an AL-best 1.95 ERA.

Schlittler paced the AL in pitching WAR (7.0) and opponent on-base percentage (.244), posting the franchise’s lowest ERA by a qualified pitcher since Ron Guidry finished at 1.74 in his Cy Young Award-winning 1978 campaign. Schlittler struck out 239 batters against 49 walks and 129 hits allowed in 193 2/3 innings.

He permitted one or zero runs in a Major League-best 21 starts, allowing three runs or fewer in 29 starts, tied for the most in the Majors. Seemingly feeding off hostile environments, Schlittler was especially dominant on the road, going 8-2 with a 1.16 ERA in 15 starts. He led Major Leaguers in road ERA, strikeouts (129), opponent batting average (.153), opponent OPS (.456) and WHIP (0.74).

“I think sometimes you just naturally lock in a little bit more,” Schlittler said. “The goal is to find a way to treat every game the same.”

Now, with a possible Cy Young Award on the horizon, the real question ahead is this -- what will Schlittler do for an encore?

“He’s been the best pitcher in the league,” manager Aaron Boone said. “When you have that going all year at the top of your rotation, that’s massive. And that’s what he’s been.” -- Bryan Hoch

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Jacob Misiorowski, RHP, Brewers

The Pirates’ Paul Skenes was the 16th unanimous winner of this award in the NL a year ago, and it would be something of a surprise if Misiorowski is not the 17th after a year in which he touched 105.5 mph on the radar gun and was the hardest starting pitcher to hit in history. The 6-foot-7, 24-year-old Brewers ace finished as the Major League leader in ERA (1.80), strikeouts (252), strikeout rate (37.9 percent), WHIP (0.80), and opponents’ average (.157) in 174 2/3 scintillating innings during the regular season.

He joined Justin Verlander (2019) and Pedro Martínez (2000) as the only pitchers in history with 250-plus strikeouts and a WHIP as low as 0.80. And according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Misiorowski joined Sandy Koufax (1965), J.R. Richard (1979) and Mike Scott (1986) as the only pitchers since 1950 to lead the Majors in ERA, strikeouts and opponents’ average. Misiorowski’s .157 opponents’ average was the lowest on record for a full season, surpassing Martínez’s .167 in his spectacular 2000 campaign.

You could keep going on and on. The only dent in Misiorowski’s case is he pitched fewer innings than the other finalists, and that was only because the Brewers were protective as he pushed beyond his previous career high, anticipating an extended October.

“He deserves everything that's coming his way,” said Brewers catcher and World Series MVP William Contreras. “He deserves the Cy Young that's coming his way and all the success he had this year.” -- Adam McCalvy

Chris Sale, LHP, Braves

Sale made a strong bid for what would be his second NL Cy Young Award within the past three seasons. The 2024 winner ranked second in the NL in ERA (2.16), third in WHIP (0.98), fourth in strikeouts (200) and sixth in batting average allowed (.215).

Sánchez led the Majors with the 22 quality starts he tallied over 33 starts. Sale had 19 quality starts over his 27 starts, resulting in a 70 percent quality start rate. The only pitcher to produce a better percentage over 20 starts or more was the Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto (22 of 28).

Sale struggled in his third start, allowing the Angels six earned runs over four innings on April 12. He then produced a 1.96 ERA over the 24 starts that followed and constructed his finest outing on Aug. 27, when he recorded 11 strikeouts during a five-hit shutout of the Dodgers.

Sale secured his 200th strikeout against the final batter he faced during his regular season finale against the Reds. He joined his idol Randy Johnson as the only left-handed pitchers in MLB history who have recorded nine or more 200-strikeout seasons. Nolan Ryan (15), Johnson (13), Roger Clemens (12) and Tom Seaver (10) are the only pitchers with more than nine such seasons. -- Mark Bowman

Cristopher Sánchez, LHP, Phillies

Sánchez might not throw 100-plus mph, but he dominated MLB hitters in other ways, making him an NL Cy Young finalist for a second consecutive year. He went 18-7 with a 2.91 ERA in 33 starts this season. He led MLB in wins and bWAR (8.1). He led the NL in quality starts (22), starts (33), complete games (one) and shutouts (one). He ranked second in strikeouts (231), fWAR (6.2) and innings pitched (207). He finished third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (5.13), fourth in walks per nine innings (1.96) and FIP (2.80) and sixth in ERA. He had a 50 2/3-innings scoreless streak from late April to early June, which is the longest in Phillies history -- and the fifth-longest single-season streak since 1893 (when the mound moved to its current distance). It’s also the longest by any left-handed pitcher.

Sánchez won NL Pitcher of the Month honors in May. He started for the NL in the All-Star Game in Philadelphia in July. He became the first MLB pitcher to post back-to-back 8.0+ bWAR seasons since Justin Verlander in 2011 (8.6) and ’12 (8.1). He became the first lefty to do so since Randy Johnson from 1999-2002 (9.1, 8.1, 10.1, 10.7). Sánchez is only the sixth pitcher in Phillies history to have consecutive seasons of 8+ bWAR, joining legends Roy Halladay (2010-11; 8.5 and 8.8), Jim Bunning (1965-66; 8.0 and 9.0), Robin Roberts (1951-54; 8.0, 8.4, 9.8 and 9.0), Grover Cleveland Alexander (1914-17; 8.9, 11.0, 11.0 and 9.2) and Charlie Buffinton (1888-89; 12.1 and 11.3). -- Todd Zolecki