Paul Skenes earned this strut.

After throwing his final pitch of the 2025 season, a 98-mph fastball to strike out the Reds’ Spencer Steer in the Pirates’ 4-3 win in 11 innings Wednesday, the fireballing ace did a little spin and seemed to take in the totality of his incredible season.

The former No. 1 pick then slowly walked off the mound after tossing six shutout innings to bolster an already overwhelming resume to win the NL Cy Young Award in his first full season.

Skenes finished the campaing with a 1.97 ERA, becoming the first qualified pitcher 23 or younger to notch an ERA below 2.00 since Dwight Gooden in 1985, per MLB.com .

“I got a hundredth worse than last year, I’m actually worse than I was last year. I’m just kidding,” Skenes joked while referencing his 1.96 ERA in his roo

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