Christopher Sanchez finished second in The Athletic's Cy Young Award staff survey, taking 27% of the vote and confirming that his season has pushed him into the center of the National League race. Jacob Misiorowski won the vote with 68%, but Sanchez's support shows he is no longer being treated as a surprise name on the ballot.
The Phillies left-hander has the numbers to back that view. Sanchez, 11-4 this year, has a 2.62 earned run average that ranks seventh in Major League Baseball and 144 strikeouts that rank fourth. He was named to the All-Star game for the second time in three years and started for the National League Team, a sign that the league has already put him in its top tier.
What makes the vote more striking is how split his season has been by location. Sanchez has a 0.86 ERA at Citizens Bank Park, but a 4.97 ERA away from Philadelphia this year. In his last two road starts, he gave up 22 hits. That is the part of his case that does not sit neatly beside the praise, even as his work at home has kept him in the conversation.
He showed the same pattern in his most recent results against the Pittsburgh Pirates, blanking them in an 8-0 win on June 30 and pitching another shutout against them on May 16 in Western Pennsylvania. Those outings help explain why his name is still climbing, even with the uneven road numbers attached to it.
For the Phillies, the timing matters because pitching has become a problem around Sanchez and Zack Wheeler, whose season has been described as career-best, while Aaron Nola's struggles and a relief group that has left a lot to be desired have added pressure. Philadelphia is also thought to be looking for pitching help before Major League Baseball's Aug. 3 trade deadline. Sanchez has already given the club an All-Star starter and a Cy Young contender; the question now is whether the version that dominates at home can travel with him when the race sharpens again.
