Paul Skenes Makes Wrong Kind Of History With Incredible Sophomore Season
Pirates ace posts sub-2.00 ERA and 200+ strikeouts but lacks winning record due to team struggles
Paul Skenes is the odds-on favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award after one of the best seasons in recent memory.
Skenes, despite being just 23-years-old, was outstanding by every possible statistical measure. In his second year in the big leagues, he threw 187.2 innings, with a sparkling 1.97 ERA and a 2.37 FIP, over 10.3 strikeouts per nine innings, just two walks per nine, and a league-leading 6.5 wins above replacement, per Fangraphs.
After a Rookie of the Year winning campaign in 2024, Skenes followed it up by somehow getting even better.
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Unfortunately for him, Skenes was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates. And as a member of an organization that doesn't take itself seriously, he's been sentenced to making the wrong kind of history. Which is exactly what he did in 2025.
Jun 19, 2025; Detroit, Michigan, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes (30) pitches in the first inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images
Pittsburgh Pirates Sentence Paul Skenes To Record Futility
Per OptaSTATS on X, Skenes season wasn't just exceptional, it was historic.
"Since ERA became an official state in both leagues in 1913, Paul Skenes is the only MLB pitcher to finish a season with 200+ strikeouts and a sub-2.00 ERA and yet not have a winning record," they posted.
Yeah, that about sums it up. The first time since before the start of World War I a pitcher had Skenes' level of dominance and did not have a winning record as a pitcher.
To be fair, pitcher wins are not an especially meaningful statistic; their record is heavily influenced, if not primarily, by how their team chooses to play around them. For example, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been nearly as good as Skenes this year for the Los Angeles Dodgers, with a 2.49 ERA, but because he's received some of the lowest run support in baseball, inexplicably, he's just 12-8. For some perspective on how absurd that is, Zac Gallen has 13 wins this season, despite a 4.70 ERA. Skenes has a 1.97 ERA and just 10 wins.
Still, it's an example of how the Pirates are not a serious baseball team. Because their ownership has refused to invest in building a competitive roster. Their last internal free agent to sign a multi-year contract was Ivan Nova nearly a decade ago, and that was a 3-year, $26 million deal. Their last external free agent signed to a multi-year deal was Daniel Hudson, also in 2016, for 2-years and $11 million. Again, this is not a serious baseball team.
Hopefully, for Skenes' sake, and for baseball fans who appreciate his greatness, he gets an opportunity to pitch on a bigger stage at some point in his career. It just probably won't be for Bob Nutting's Pirates.