This article was contributed by BetMGM. For more sports betting insights, check out BetMGM.com.
For the first time all season, a player other than Pirates right-hander Paul Skenes is the betting favorite to win the National League Cy Young award.
Phillies righty Zack Wheeler is the new NL Cy Young favorite at the BetMGM online sportsbook. Wheeler’s -125 price tag gives him an implied probability of 55.56% to win his first Cy Young Award. For comparison, he started with a +800 value in the preseason.
Wheeler, who is 35 years old and in his 11th MLB season, has come close to earning this hardware throughout his career. He finished in second place in the Cy Young race in 2021 and ’24, losing to Corbin Burnes and Chris Sale, respectively.
In addition, Wheeler finished sixth in the 2023 race and 12th in 2020 during his first season with the Phillies.
Wheeler has put together an impressive campaign for a Phillies team that leads the National League East. He is 9-3 with a 2.36 ERA in 19 starts, striking out an NL-best 154 batters and walking 26 across 122 innings of work.
According to Baseball Reference, Wheeler leads all pitchers with a 4.8 WAR.
With more than two months remaining in the regular season, despite the latest movement in the NL Cy Young odds, this race is far from over.
Skenes is now +100 (50% implied probability) to win the award. He has posted an MLB-best 2.01 ERA in 20 starts, recording 131 strikeouts and 30 walks in 121 total innings.
As a rookie last year, Skenes finished third in the NL Cy Young race. That’s why he started as a +400 favorite in the market during the preseason and had been the front-runner until the All-Star break.
Bettors at BetMGM remain split on what appears to be a two-player race. Wheeler has received the most bets at 13.1%, while Skenes has earned the most betting handle at 26.8%.
No other player is better than 22/1 to win the NL Cy Young award in mid-July.
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