2025 MLB predictions: Spencer Strider, Gavin Williams take home Cy Young honors

It’s that quiet Monday right before March Madness, where we take a short intermission before an onslaught of sports attacks fans.

Once the First Four games begin Tuesday, March Madness will bring us into baseball season and the basketball and hockey postseasons.

Taking a look at the baseball futures markets, we now have widely available lines to play with in the awards department.

Here, we’re taking a look at the AL and NL Cy Young races, where some of the leagues’ more intriguing arms could take a massive step forward in 2025.

Spencer Strider AL Cy Young winner (30/1, FanDuel)

The Atlanta Braves are stalwarts when it comes developing strong young arms — look no further than a familiar face that was a clear favorite to win the award last year.

Spencer Strider opened as an insane +425 leader last year, and can now be had at a tasty price of +3000 at FanDuel following a season-ending injury.

At his best in 2023, Strider dominated the league, striking out 281 batters, by far the best figure in the MLB and the highest number that the MLB has seen in any year since 2019.

In comparison, Tarik Skupal struck out just 226 batters last year to lead the league.

The high total wasn’t a factor of Strider pitching a ton of innings either, folks.

Strider had a 13.55 strikeouts per nine rate. That’s the best number any pitcher has had since 2019, which appears to be an outlier year for strikeouts.

Strider’s strikeout rate was so high that it was better than Randy Johnson’s in 2001 (13.41 K/9) and is the third-best in recorded history.

NL Cy Young odds

Frankly, 30/1 is just too high of a number here, even with Tommy John surgery crushing his season in early April last year.

This bet seemingly comes down to my acceptance that these injuries are becoming more common and recovery times are shortening.

Strider is already throwing in training camp and is even slated to start Monday’s spring game for the Braves.

He could miss a month but, honestly, he looks really strong already, and a standout performance Monday will likely tank these odds.

Strider looks like a historically good pitcher if he picks up where he left off.

Gavin Williams AL Cy Young winner (80/1, Caesars)

Another perhaps longer shot is backing Gavin Williams in the American League to win the Cy Young.

The Cleveland Guardians’ soon-to-be ace has looked dominant in Spring Training and was always a pitcher I looked at as a star in the making since his minor-league days.

Williams has 16 strikeouts in eight innings pitched thus far this camp, with an insane 47 percent called strikes+whiffs percentage.

AL Cy Young odds

He has the best K/9 percent among all spring training pitchers (minimum eight innings).

Let’s not forget that the Guardians are excellent at developing pitchers, previously turning Shane Beiber into a star and developing a Cy Young winner in Shane Beiber, while also having Tanner Bibee as a Cy Young contender too.

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Williams is my favorite breakout candidate in the American League and I expect him to take a massive step forward this year, with potentially a Cy Young win that has 80/1 odds at Caesars.

I also feel like I have a strong read on this market, considering I projected Chris Sale to win the NL Cy Young last season, who had odds of 70/1 during Spring Training of 2024.

Why Trust New York Post Betting

Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.