Can Shohei Ohtani win a Cy Young?

Health and opportunity put him in the conversation

Entering the season fully healthy as a two-way player, the veteran attracts rare attention not just as a hitter but as a legitimate candidate for baseball’s top pitching honor. Managerial and clubhouse remarks at spring training emphasized that he looks sharp on the mound, and those preseason impressions carry weight for voters who will judge a full season’s body of work.

For him to capture a Cy Young, multiple things must align over the long grind of the schedule. Durability is the first hurdle: staying on the mound enough to meet traditional voting thresholds requires consistent health and careful workload management. Performance is the second; dominant starts that limit runs, miss barrels, and keep hitters off-balance are the currency that swings voters. Finally, narrative and comparison matter — voters weigh statistics alongside how a pitcher’s season changed a team’s fortunes.

Factors that will determine the chase:

• Workload and innings: enough starts and innings to be evaluated against full-season peers.
• Run prevention and dominance: low ERA, strong strikeout-to-walk rates, and ability to limit high-leverage damage.
• Team context: a rotation that supports his efforts and a lineup that can turn strong pitching into wins.

If he avoids injury and delivers consistent, top-tier pitching, the award is within reach. Even without winning, a full, effective season on the mound would cement his standing among the game’s elite two-way performers and alter how teams value that rare skill set going forward.