Seth

Lugo

Skubal celebrates his 28th birthday with his first career Cy Young Award, receiving all 30 first place votes in balloting, following a transcendent 2024 campaign where he helped lead Detroit back to the postseason with an American League-leading 2.39 ERA (2.39) and 228 strikeouts across 192 innings (31 starts). He’ll be the first starting pitcher off the board next spring in all fantasy drafts. Royals veteran Seth Lugo finished second and Guardians stopper Emmanuel Clase came in third.

Clase and Lugo are deserving finalists, but Skubal is a near-lock to take home his first Cy Young Award after a dominant 2024 campaign where he led the American League in ERA (2.39) and strikeouts (228) over 192 innings (31 starts). The 27-year-old southpaw figures to be the first starting pitcher off the board next spring in all fantasy drafts. Clase melted down in the postseason, but was other-worldly during the regular season, converting a career-high 47 saves to go with a sparkling 0.61 ERA across 74 1/3 innings (74 appearances). He’s the first reliever since Francisco Rodríguez back in 2008 to be named a Cy Young Award finalist. Lugo was an unexpected revelation in his Kansas City debut, finishing with a solid 3.00 ERA, 1.09 WHIP and 181/48 K/BB ratio across 206 2/3 innings (33 starts).

Giménez is widely known as one of the best defenders in all of baseball and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him also add a Platinum Glove to his mantle before all is said and done. Here’s the full list of Gold Glove winners in the American League (along with how many times they have won the award): C: Cal Raleigh (1), 1B: Carlos Santana (1), 2B: Andres Gimenez (3), SS: Bobby Witt Jr. (1), 3B Alex Bregman (1), P: Seth Lugo (1), LF: Steven Kwan (3), CF: Daulton Varsho (1), RF: Wilyer Abreu (1), UT: Dylan Moore (1).

Lugo issued four walks for just the second time in 35 starts this year and three of those contributed to the two runs scoring. Still, it was a solid enough outing, and though he left down 2-0, the Royals let him off the hook with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Lugo got through four scoreless before giving up a Cedric Mullins homer to start the fifth. The Orioles continued to rally from there, with Lugo’s error on a Jordan Westburg comebacker contributing to a bases-loaded, no-out situation. Lugo then got Anthony Santander to pop out and was replaced by Angel Zerpa, who struck out Colton Cowser and got Adley Rutschman to ground out to end the threat.

They’ll be facing the Astros unless they win and the Tigers lose today, in which case they’d instead travel to Baltimore as the No. 5 seed. Ragans was originally scheduled to start today, but there’s no need for that with a spot clinched. Lugo threw just two innings Saturday to keep himself in line for the Game 2 start.

Lugo worked just the two innings as expected with Michael Lorenzen and Daniel Lynch IV also working a pair of innings following the 34-year-old. Lugo is expected to start in the Wild Card series against either the Astros or Orioles, and this just keeps him fresh before that series. He finishes the regular season with an excellent 3.00 ERA and 181/48 K/BB.

Lugo did well to limit the damage in this one despite a heap of hard contact. 10 of the Giants’ 20 balls in play were hit harder than 95 MPH, but they couldn’t sustain a rally outside of their two-run second inning. Sadly, the Royals’ lineup may be the coldest in the league and couldn’t muster a single run of support for Lugo. He’s scheduled to face the Braves in Atlanta next weekend for his final start of the regular season.

Lugo gave up eight hits, walked two and struck out four. He was staked to a 4-0 lead in the third inning, but couldn’t complete five innings and then the Royals bullpen gave up the lead anyway. Lugo has been an absolute steal at his preseason ADP. He’s 16-8 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and 173 strikeouts in 197 2/3 innings. The 34-year-old right-hander is set to face the Giants at home this weekend.

It’s been quite a bounce back for Lugo after a bad month; he had a 6.25 ERA in six starts from July 27-Aug. 25, but he’s allowed just two runs in 21 innings since. He’s now 16-8 with a 2.94 ERA in MLB-high 193 innings, which is a remarkable total for a former reliever whose previous high in innings was 146 1/3.