Phillies’ Zack Wheeler is a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award

Back in spring training, Zack Wheeler said winning the Cy Young was one of his personal goals for the season.

After being named a National League finalist on Monday, the Phillies’ ace came one step closer to making that goal a reality. As voted on by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Wheeler joined Atlanta Braves’ Chris Sale and Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes as the NL finalists. In the American League, Tarik Skubal (Tigers), Seth Lugo (Royals), and Emmanuel Clase (Guardians) were named finalists.

Wheeler and Sale have been considered the two NL frontrunners all season. Wheeler has the edge over Sale in innings pitched (200 to 177⅔), quality starts (26 to 18), and WHIP (.0955 to 1.013). Wheeler’s WHIP also marked a career-best.

» READ MORE: Phillies 2025 starting pitching outlook: Free-agent options, prospect forecast, and more

However, Sale won the NL triple crown by leading qualified starters in wins (18), strikeouts (225), and ERA (2.38). Last week, Sale won the 2024 Gold Glove for NL pitchers, beating out Wheeler and the Mets’ Luis Severino.

In his rookie year with the Pirates, Skenes tossed 133 innings and posted a 1.96 ERA and 170 strikeouts. Skenes, 22, was also named a finalist for NL Rookie of the Year. He finished 29 innings shy of qualifying for the ERA title.

“I did the best I could,” Wheeler said after his last regular season start. “Chris had a really good year also. He’s deserving of it, for sure. It was pretty cool to see him come back from missing the past four years. Good for him. Happy to see him be back to Chris Sale. It’s pretty cool.”

Playoff results do not factor into the voting.

» READ MORE: World-class pitcher Roki Sasaki to be posted to MLB, impacting free-agent market. Will the Phillies join the chase?

Wheeler had previously been a Cy Young finalist back in 2021, but narrowly finished second behind Corbin Burnes, who had pitched 46⅓ fewer innings.

“He’s a Cy Young, man,” Bryce Harper said of Wheeler in September. “I don’t think anybody in baseball is better than him at this point. … I thought he got robbed of it three years ago, and I believe he earned it this year.”

The last Phillies pitcher to win a Cy Young was Roy Halladay in 2010. This year’s winners will be announced on Nov. 20 (MLB Network, 6 p.m.).