Less than a week after his worst start of the season hurt his AL Cy Young odds and slowed betting interest, Tarik Skubal has established himself as the heavy favorite to win the Detroit Tigers' first Cy Young Award in 11 years.
At BetMGM, Skubal opened the season with the fourth-shortest odds at +1000 — up from +1800 when the betting markets went live over the winter — and gradually became the favorite as he won his first six decisions and entered the Tigers' game against the Kansas City Royals on May 22 at +175.
The public was loving it. Skubal had 23.4% of the AL Cy Young handle — more than double the share of the closest player — on 17.8% of the tickets.
But his odds tumbled to +225 after allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in the 8-3 loss to the Royals. And his handle and ticket shares declined to 22.4% and 17.4%, respectively.
Skubal was still the favorite, though the gap had tightened; Corbin Burnes was +400 after the Baltimore Orioles pitcher allowed only one earned run over his last two starts.
Now, just days later, the gap has never been bigger.
As of Tuesday — after lowering his ERA to 1.97 in a win over the Texas Rangers — Skubal is +160, while Burnes has fallen to +450. It's the biggest gap of the season and the second-biggest gap of the six biggest MLB individual awards (Cy Young, MVP, and Rookie of the Year).
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