Yankees' pitching duo has a chance to make history in 2025

The Yankees pitching staff has been nothing short of fantastic this year. They lead all of baseball in batting average against, they're top eight in ERA, top five in WHIP, and top five in strikeouts - all without their ace and former Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole, who underwent Tommy John surgery in spring training.

A great amount of their success can be attributed to the performances of Max Fried and Carlos Rodón, who have both pitched like aces.

Fried is currently 8-1 with a 1.78 ERA through 81 innings, putting together the best start to a Yankee pitcher's career since Phil Niekro back in 1984. He continues to prove why Brian Cashman spent the big bucks to get him every time he takes the mound, as you'd be hard-pressed to find a better pitcher in all of baseball than him right now.

Carlos Rodón has been equally impressive, boasting a 8-3 record to go along with a 2.49 ERA heading into a Sunday Night Baseball showcase against the Red Sox. What's most impressive about Rodón are his strikeout numbers, as he has sat down 98 in 79.2 innings. He also leads all of baseball in batting average against, with hitters only batting .167 against the southpaw.

This version of Rodón is what the Yankees expected back when they signed him in 2022, and he is starting to come correct after a rough first two seasons in the Bronx. I would go a step further and say this is the best Carlos Rodón has ever been, even better than when he was with the White Sox or Giants. That is how impressive he has been.

Max Fried and Carlos Rodón could make history this season

Add those two together and you have the arguably the best one-two punch in the major leagues, and they have a chance (albeit very small) to make history.

Should one of either Max Fried or Carlos Rodón win the Cy Young while the other finishes second, it would be only the fifth time in history that the top two finishers in Cy Young voting pitched for the same team. The last such occurrence came in 2019, when Justin Verlander and now-Yankee Gerrit Cole finished first and second respectively while pitching for the Houston Astros.

It should be said that the likelihood of of this happening is extremely low, as the American League is chock-full of great pitchers, with guys like Tarik Skubal, Hunter Brown, and Garrett Crochet all having spectacular seasons.

Still, there is a lot of baseball left to play this year. Pitchers can get hurt, run into a bad run of form, or just get straight up unlucky. Should the dice roll in favor of the pinstriped duo of Fried and Rodón, who is to say they can't accomplish such a feat? They are already both ranked as two of the top 10 pitchers in all of baseball according to MLB.com, and they could very well be the top two in the American League when all is said and done.

All us fans can do is sit back, wear the pinstripes, and hope for the best.