As expected, Chris Sale, the Atlanta Braves veteran pitcher, was named the 2024 National League Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday.

Sale, whose previous three seasons were either lost or compromised due to injuries and surgery, had an 18-3 record in 29 starts a season ago. He finished with a 2.38 ERA (best in MLB) in 177 and two-thirds innings. He also led the National League with 225 strikeouts and had a WHIP (walks and hits to innings pitched) of 1.01.

It was quite the bounce-back season for Sale, who also took home the Comeback Player of the Year award.

But there was a sense before and after the NL CY winner was named on Wednesday that Sale wasn’t the most dominant pitcher in Major League Baseball in 2024, and that was just a matter of time before someone else won the prestigious pitching honor.

I’m talking about the Pirates Paul Skenes, who was named the National League Rookie of the Year on Monday.

Skenes, who made his MLB debut on May 11 vs. the Cubs at PNC Park, finished with an 11-3 record in 23 starts. While his 133 innings weren’t enough to qualify as baseball’s leader, he finished with a 1.96 ERA, the lowest for a rookie pitcher since 1920. He struck out a remarkable 170 batters and finished with a WHIP of .947.

You can make a strong argument that Skenes was baseball’s best pitcher last year; he was never really dominated in a game. Sure, he struggled a time or two and was even roughed up in a few of his starts, but no lineup ever got to Skenes. Instead, a good many hitters could be seen shaking their heads in disbelief before and after stepping into the batter’s box to face him.

Skenes was so dominant, his stuff so phenomenal, and America’s desire to witness him so great, that he was named the starting pitcher for the National League in the 2024 MLB All-Star Game, last July.

Sans a major injury, there is no question that Skenes, who just turned 22 on May 29, will win at least one Cy Young Award before all is said and done. The fact that he finished third behind Sale (who had been a finalist for the award six other times before Wednesday) and the Phillies’ Zach Wheeler in his rookie season is a testament to his once-in-a-generation talent.

Skenes, who frequently hit or surpassed the 100 mph mark in 2024, isn’t just a flame-thrower on the mound. No, he has a plethora of pitches–including his almost unhittable splinker (it’s not a real word, but it’s a combination of a splitter and sinker and really hard for batters to deal with).

OK, so if you’re a Pirates fan, are you happy that they have this unhittable pitching phenom or are you sad that Skenes, whose Rookie of the Year honor “won” him a year closer to free agency, will almost surely be pitching for the Yankees or Dodgers before his 30th birthday?

I wouldn’t focus so much on the future if I were you. Instead, I’d pay attention to what the Pirates do with the time they have Skenes in their organization. This guy may go on to be one of the best pitchers in baseball history. Sure, he might only be in Pittsburgh for a handful of seasons, but if the Bucs can capitalize on that time by contending for or even winning a World Series, wouldn’t it be worth it?

I think so, and the Pirates better behave as if they feel the same way.