The Windup Newsletter ⚾ | This is The Athletic’s MLB newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Windup directly in your inbox.The NL Cy Young race was already tight before a new contender showed up. Plus: Vegasball is gonna be wild and there’s another weird thing I’ve never seen. Ken Rosenthal also asks: Would the Phillies have done this under their former manager? I’m Levi Weaver — welcome to The Windup!Ace Behavior: NL Cy Young debate heats upThe NL Cy Young winner won’t be announced for another five months, but the debates have already begun. After all, look at these lines:Allow me to present two conflicting arguments:No. 1: This is less competitive than last week. This weekend’s Phillies-Brewers matchup was framed (rightfully) as an opportunity to see Cristopher Sánchez and Jacob Misiorowski in the same series.But Sánchez allowed four runs in 5 2/3 innings yesterday, while Misiorowski set a new record on Friday by striking out 15 hitters in a Maddux (a complete-game shutout, throwing under 100 pitches). Misiorowski’s game score of 100 was the highest since Justin Verlander’s no-hitter in 2019, and Misiorowski broke his own record for the fastest pitch thrown by a starting pitcher since tracking began (2008), at 104.5 mph.(Side note for the curious: The two highest game scores of all time happened in the same game. In 1920, Joe Oeschger of the Boston Braves (153) and Leon Cadore of the Brooklyn Robins (140) each pitched all 26 innings of the longest game in MLB history.)No. 2: This is actually more competitive than last week.This has officially gone from a four-man race to a quintet. After retiring the final 22 hitters he faced in his previous start, Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired the first 23 he faced on Saturday before Mookie Betts’ error ended a perfect game bid with two outs in the eighth inning.The no-hitter ended in the ninth when Tristan Peters homered to lead off the inning. However, Betts’ error also cost Yamamoto a different slice of history: His 45 consecutive hitters retired was one short of the MLB record, set by the Giants’ Yusmeiro Petit in 2014.More Ace behavior: Given the injuries that have decimated their rotation, the Cubs are being cautious with emergent ace Ben Brown.Middle Relief: A good man firedIn today’s column, Ken asks what can’t be answered. Let’s hear it from him: MILWAUKEE — The lingering question, and one that will never be answered, is whether the Phillies would have rallied the way they did if Rob Thomson had remained their manager.Their play suggests president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was completely justified in replacing Thomson with Don Mattingly. The Phillies, after starting 9-19 under Thomson, are 29-14 since the change, the second-best record in the majors during that time.Still, a new manager should not have been necessary to awaken a group of accomplished professionals collectively earning more than $300 million. The players knew it then, and they know it now. They got a good man fired.Thomson, 62, had the highest winning percentage (.568) of any Phillies manager since 1900. If Dombrowski had given him more time, it’s possible their record now would not look much different, if at all.