Beloved baseball writer has Pirates' Paul Skenes as her 2025 dark horse MVP candidate

It’s hard for Paul Skenes not to be the favorite when it comes to postseason awards. In just his second season, he’s already the odds-on favorite to win the NL Cy Young. However, MLB.com reporter and researcher Sarah Langs suggested a loftier goal for the Pirates ace: NL MVP.

Langs, who regularly digs up numbers and stats in her reporting, knows well enough that pitchers rarely win the award. Aside from Shohei Ohtani, who deserves his own special category, a pitcher has won the MVP just twice since 2000. Those two seasons, Clayton Kershaw in 2014 and Justin Verlander in 2011, provide a blueprint for Skenes’ path to baseball’s top prize.

She named Skenes a "dark horse" candidate rather than a top-five NL favorite (MLB's picks were Juan Soto, Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker, Francisco Lindor, and Elly De La Cruz), but still, despite the odds being stacked against him, there is a path.

Pirates' Paul Skenes could be in the running for the NL MVP, but he’ll need some help.

A pitcher has to be truly unhittable to win the MVP. It’s not really a requirement that one has to throw a no-hitter, but it certainly helps. Kershaw and Verlander each accomplished the feat in their winning seasons. Winning pitching’s Triple Crown doesn’t hurt either.

Most important, though, is the success of the team. The last pitcher to win the MVP and not play for a division or pennant-winning club was Bobby Shantz for the 1952 Philadelphia A’s. If the Pirates climb to the top of the NL Central this season, Skenes’ chances at winning the award increase dramatically.

Luckily, this is a very winnable division. Unluckily, it’s also a division with considerable competition for MVP votes. Cubs free-agent signing Kyle Tucker and Reds speedster Elly De La Cruz are getting some buzz. Either of those teams could run away with the division crown and scoop the MVP out from under Skenes. Skenes’ greatest competition resides on the coasts. Juan Soto will look to make good on his mega contract, and Ohtani is never far from the MVP conversation.

If Skenes wants to add to his trophy case, his season will have to play out perfectly. That said, he’s been pretty much perfect so far.