It's difficult to put into context what we just saw in May. Two pitchers — Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski — simultaneously delivered historically great months, combining to surrender a single earned run across 77 1/3 innings.
It was a hotly debated topic about who would win NL Pitcher of the Month. Would it be the Phillies' ace or the Brewers' wunderkind? We have our answer.
Sánchez's perfection got the honors, despite plenty of other historic achievements from Misiorowski. Sorry, Brewers fans.
One dominant, historic, Sán-sational month
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) June 3, 2026
Introducing your NL Pitcher of the Month, Cristopher Sánchez! pic.twitter.com/EpjDvxgzqG
Cristopher Sánchez's NL Pitcher of the Month honors by the numbers for Phillies
Sánchez's month was a little more impressive from a historical standpoint, as he set the all-time Philadelphia Phillies record for most consecutive scoreless innings thrown. Considering that the previous record, set by Grover Cleveland Alexander, held for 115 years, it's safe to say that he's in some good company.
Not to be outdone, Misiorowski struck out a preposterous 57 batters in one month, 12 more than Sánchez who finished in second place in the National League in that category. That, folks, is good for a 41.4% strikeout rate, which is so outrageous for a starter that you'd be hard-pressed to match the feat playing on rookie difficulty in MLB The Show.
Nevertheless, voters apparently valued Sánchez's flawless ERA over Misorowski's overwhelming dominance.
Who had the better May?
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) May 31, 2026
Cristopher Sánchez: 4-0, 39 IP, 25 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 45 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.06 FIP
Jacob Misiorowski: 5-0, 38.1 IP, 14 H, 1 R, 6 BB, 57 K, 0.23 ERA, 0.63 FIP
In literally any other month in baseball history, Misiorowski would have been a shoo-in for this award. He led the league in fWAR (2.4), FIP (0.65), batting average against (.109), and WHIP (0.52), on top of his aforementioned penchant for punchouts. Brewers fans have a right to feel slighted; that fWAR total outpaces the entire rotation of 20 other teams for whole year. Good lord.
Unfortunately for him, he was up against an equally dominant force in Sánchez who ranked top-three in each of those stats as well. Beyond that, he finished first in ERA (0.00), first in walk rate (2.1%), and first in groundball rate (58.1%) among qualified starters. He also recorded more outs than Misiorowski, despite taking one fewer start during the month.
Really, there was no wrong answer here, and it's fair to argue that a single earned run shouldn't have been the difference between two pitchers that were so thoroughly untouchable. However, a perfect ERA reigns supreme, and it would have set one heck of a precedent if the guy on a historic scoreless-innings streak didn't get rewarded for it.
These two — combined with Paul Skenes, Chase Burns, Chris Sale, and Shohei Ohtani — are setting the National League up for the best Cy Young race in history. Suffice it to say, the Phillies should be feeling pretty good about their investment in Sánchez right about now.
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