Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes claim 2025 Cy Young Awards, but their franchises face critical decisions that could define baseball's competitive landscape.

The Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates stand at crossroads with their ace pitchers. Skubal's unanimous AL victory and Skenes' dominant NL performance should spark championship ambitions, not trade discussions. The Tigers possess an 87-win core featuring Spencer Torkelson and Riley Green, needing only modest additions to contend in a wide-open American League. Meanwhile, the Pirates' offensive futility wastes Skenes' generational talent—a team that can't support a pitcher posting a 1.97 ERA with 216 strikeouts. The solution? A $27 million investment in nine capable hitters could transform Pittsburgh from perennial cellar-dweller to playoff contender. Commissioner Rob Manfred faces a direct challenge: recruit five megalomaniacal billionaires willing to revitalize struggling franchises in Pittsburgh, Detroit, Miami, Cleveland, and Sacramento.

Discover why keeping elite pitchers beats trading them, and how baseball's ownership crisis threatens the sport's competitive integrity.

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