Padres' Mason Miller earns obvious distinction from MLB insider amid Cy Young chase originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

So far in 2026, there's been plenty of incredibly fun storylines to follow along with. And for the San Diego Padres, while the Fernando Tatis Jr. power outage is a concern, there's a different story that's a lot more exciting.

Mason Miller has been dominating once again this season, but he's been better than ever to a ridiculous degree so far.

USA Today's Bob Nightengale made the obvious distinction that Miller has been the best reliever in MLB this season. The Padres' righty reliever is the best in the sport, and it's such an obvious claim that it wouldn't be a surprise if he entered Cy Young talks this year.

Mason Miller is obviously best reliever in MLB

"Best reliever: Mason Miller, San Diego Padres," Nightengale writes. "... He is also vying to become the first reliever to win the Cy Young award since Eric Gagne with the 2003 Dodgers."

Miller has been elite this season, posting a 1.17 ERA across 15 games of work with an MLB-best 10 saves through the first two days of May.

He's faced 54 batters this season, and he's struck out 29 on the year. He's striking out 53.7 percent of the batters he's facing this season, right in line with his ridiculous 54.2% strikeout rate for the Padres last season in 23.1 innings pitched.

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Miller has a 362 ERA+ this season, and it's only not better thanks to his last two outings, where he allowed two earned runs on three hits with one walk while striking out just two total batters.

Across all of MLB, there isn't a reliever who's been better than Miller this season. In the Cy Young race, Miller has a legitimate chance to win the award this year.

It might be a long shot, but if Miller continues to strike out this many batters all season long, and the Padres can either stay in lockstep with the Los Angeles Dodgers or even surpass them, his odds might increase for the Cy Young this year.

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