As the halfway point of the 2025 Major League Baseball season swiftly approaches, the MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year award races are beginning to heat up.

However, one of the more clear-cut races is for the National League Cy Young Award, which has been narrowed down to right-handers Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes.

Skenes and Wheeler are tops in the league in multiple categories. Skenes has an NL-best 1.94 ERA while Wheeler is close behind at 2.17. Wheeler leads the NL in strikeouts (148), WHIP (0.845) and batting average against (.177). Each has pitched 116 innings, tied for second behind San Francisco Giants ace Logan Webb. 

Wheeler has the edge in wins with nine, while Skenes is 4-7 this season. Wins have fallen out of favor as a meaningful statistic in recent years and for good reason. The Pirates have struggled to score for Skenes, thus hindering his win-loss record.

The 35-year-old Wheeler, an 11-year MLB veteran, and the 23-year-old Skenes, who made his debut last season and won the NL Rookie of the Year Award, are neck and neck in the NL Cy Young race.

But if the winner were to be chosen today, it should go to Wheeler.

He has already had two second-place Cy Young Award finishes in 2021, when he lost to then-Milwaukee Brewers ace Corbin Burnes, and in 2024 to Atlanta Braves veteran Chris Sale.

It could be argued that he should’ve at least won the award in 2021. Wheeler threw 46 more innings than Burnes and had three complete games and two shutouts with a league-leading 247 strikeouts and a 2.78 ERA. 

Wheeler has been one of the most effective pitchers of this decade, especially in his last five seasons with the Phillies. He’s accrued 27.4 bWAR and tossed 874.1 innings alongside 994 strikeouts and a 2.84 ERA since 2021.

Is Skenes having an impressive year? Yes. 

But Wheeler deserves a Cy Young Award to show for the last five seasons of his career. It would be an injustice not to formally recognize the talent and consistency he has showcased each time he's stepped on the mound.

This, of course, all depends on how the second half goes for them. The winner isn’t decided at the midway point. 

Sale won his first Cy Young Award after over 10 years in the league last season. The same should occur for Wheeler for the 2025 campaign. He's earned it.