Paul Skenes's Cy Young Campaign Has Begun

Paul Skenes was the Pirates' opening day starter and got off to a great start to the year. He threw a couple scoreless innings before the Miami Marlins plated their first run of the game in the third, but he went on to allow just one more run over the next 2.1 innings before he was taken out of the game. At that point, Pittsburgh led 4-2 and were on their way to an opening day victory, but the Pirates bullpen blew the lead in the eighth and ninth and they fell to the Marlins, 5-4.

Skenes got the start again on Wednesday night when Pittsburgh faced off with the Tampa Bay Rays, and Skenes was even better than he was on opening day. He threw 7.0 innings and didn't give up a single earned run (one run scored in the sixth after an error advanced the runner to second). He surrendered just three hits all night and struck out six batters on the way to the 4-2 victory.

As of Thursday morning, Skenes is the odds-on favorite to win the NL Cy Young award, according to FanDuel. Here are the players with the top-five best odds to win the award:

• Paul Skenes, +170
• Zack Wheeler, +500
• Chris Sale, +1800
• Hunter Greene, +1800
• Blake Snell, +2000

Paul Skenes' Cy Young campaign has begun, and as long as he stays healthy, it feels like it's his award to lose.