The MLB season is coming to a close and the playoffs are about to start. The last of the games are on Sunday September 29th and the wild card games are the following Tuesday and Wednesday. This means that this will be the final week for players fighting for an award to prove that they deserve the award.
These regular season awards will not get announced until after the entire postseason is over, but with only a week left in the season it is fair to make an end of the year list now.
Some of these awards are very close to call and some are runaways. No matter how this season finishes in its final week it is safe to say that this season has brought future stars and set records during its run.
Let’s get this started by predicting the MVP’s for the respective leagues.
AL MVP-Mike Trout
Trout is having a typical Trout season leaving him in position to rack up his third MVP award in his career. He is out for the remainder of the season due to foot surgery, but the statistics he accumulated through the time he played was enough to give him the award.
Trout leads the American League in numerous categories including: OPS (1.083), SLG (.645), OBP (.438), and HR (45). He is most likely not going to keep the lead in the homerun category due to him being out the rest of the year, but he will lead in all the other categories.
It is always up for debate whether or not MVP should go to the best statistical player or the best player on the best team. It’s always challenging when trying to decide that, but this season it will go to the best player regardless of team. The most interesting part about Trout is how often he gets on base. His average is only .291—like that’s bad—but his on-base percentage is 147 points higher than that, complete madness. Trout has never finished lower than 4th in MVP voting and do not expect him to this year either, expect him to make it one step closer to Barry Bonds’ 7 MVP awards.
NL MVP-Christian Yelich
The National League decisions are tougher in every aspect of choosing all the major awards, this includes the MVP race. All season long it was a competition between two men—Cody Bellinger and Christian Yelich—with a third thrown in every month. Yelich is out for the remainder of the season and has been since September 10th but may have done enough to earn the trophy. Anthony Rendon is on the ballot, but he is a distant third behind these two players.
Yelich has played 22 and counting fewer games than Bellinger and has better hitting stats for the most part. Yelich has 44 HR compared to Bellinger’s 46, the only stat where they are different is RBIs where Yelich has 97 compared to 114 by Bellinger, considering the difference in games that is comparatively close. Yelich also leads the NL in the quadruple slash line of average (.329), on-base percentage (.429), slugging percentage (.671), and on base plus slugging (1.100).
The only thing that could hurt Yelich in the voting is his injury, which means we were not able to see if Yelich could add to his numbers in a significant way. However, Yelich’s numbers speak for them self and he deserves to win MVP. This will be his second MVP of his career and if he wins, he will become the sixth national league player to win back-to-back MVPs, joining the ranks of Ernie Banks, Joe Morgan, Mike Schmidt, Dale Murphy, and Barry Bonds.
AL R.O.Y- John Means
This may be the toughest of the American League awards to give out, however, I gave it to the most consistent rookie pitcher in the league because he played a full season. Means has had a very good season for a very bad Orioles team. Means was the most consistent pitcher for the Orioles, posting an 11-11 record with a 3.54 ERA and 1.13 WHIP (walks plus hits per inning), both the lowest of any AL rookie pitcher with more than 10 starts.
It was tough to choose Means mainly because of the Astros rookie Yordan Alvarez, who has a .326 average with 27 HR and 77 RBI. The main reason I had trouble picking Alvarez is because he has only played in 82 games compared to Means who has been around all season long. If Alvarez was around all season, or even 2/3 of the season than he would be the easy choice, but he has only been around half the season.
Means is definitely not a favorite to win the title, but I am sticking with my decision. If Means wins the rookie of the year it will give some hope to Orioles fans who have suffered through another tough season. Even if Means loses out to Alvarez, Orioles fans still can look to a bright future from the southpaw.
NL R.O.Y-Pete Alonso
In any other season the rookie of the year would easily go to the Braves pitcher Mike Soroka who is having a phenomenal year. However, this season the overwhelming favorite is the rookie home run record setter, Pete Alonso who currently sits at 50 home runs.
There is no question that Soroka is having a great year, but Alonso is the unquestionable favorite to win the award. Alonso shattered the NL rookie home run record set by Cody Bellinger in 2017 with 39, Alonso is now working his way to become the all-time rookie home run leader which currently sits at 52 by Aaron Judge in 2017. Alonso has five games remaining in the season to break this record so it will be close.
The Mets first baseman will be the sixth Met to win the award and follow in the footpath of other greats, including: Tom Seaver, Jon Matlack, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, and Jacob deGrom.
AL Cy Young-Justin Verlander
The American League Cy Young will boil down to two Astros pitchers Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. Both pitchers are deserving of the award, if they were in different leagues then it would be safe to say that these two would win their respective leagues. However, they are in the same league and on the same team which makes the decision even tougher.
Cole and Verlander have had nearly identical seasons on the league leading Astros. Verlander is 20-6 on the year with a 2.53 ERA with 288 strikeouts, 42 walks (6.86 K/BB) and a .806 WHIP—the lowest since Pedro Martinez’s .737 in 2000.
Cole is 19-5 with a league leading 2.52 ERA, 316 strikeouts (6.87 K/BB) and a WHIP of .887.
The determining factor here will be the WHIP. This is why I think Verlander will edge out Cole in the voting process, he will post the sixth lowest WHIP of all-time compared to Cole’s 37th. No matter how the voting turns out this season it is safe to say that an Astro will walk away with the Cy Young award. With each pitcher starting one more game, that start will determine the Cy Young winner.
NL Cy Young- Mike Soroka
Soroka is clearly not the favorite to win the NL Cy Young award, but since he couldn’t win the R.O.Y he will win the Cy Young. This isn’t just because he did not get one award that he will get the other, Soroka has put up the stats all season long and has been the best pitcher of the NL east champion Braves.
Soroka is 13-4 on the season with a 2.6 ERA and a 1.090 WHIP. One downfall for Soroka when compared to Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer is his strikeouts. Soroka is not a strikeout pitcher with only 135 in 169 and 2/3 innings pitched. This could easily be the downfall for not voting for Soroka for the award, but in every other facet he deserves the award.
Scherzer and deGrom are worthy adversaries, but Soroka has been consistent all season long. Since May 17th deGrom has been the best pitcher in the league with a 1.99 ERA, however, this is a full season award. deGrom is 10-8 on the year with a 2.51 ERA, 248 strikeouts and a .99WHIP.
Scherzer was on the verge of winning until he went down with a shoulder and neck issue sidelined him. Since coming back Scherzer has had a 4.94 ERA with no outing longer than 6 2/3 innings. On the year he is still great with an 11-7 record, 2.92 ERA, 243 strikeouts, and a 1.03 WHIP.
Soroka is not the favorite to win the award and will probably not win due to the other two pitchers being bigger names, but he is worthy, nonetheless. Soroka looks like he will be a future stud and a CY Young award will help validate that.
AL M.O.Y-Aaron Boone
The Yankees have dealt with so many injuries this season and have still managed to win the American League east, this is what makes Boone the easy pick for manager of the year. It’s one thing to lead a team who was projected to win the division, but it was another to lead such an injury riddled team to the crown.
Both of their big-name players in Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both went down early in the season. These were not the only players who went down to injury, but they were the biggest. Even with that Boone’s team still managed to play great and nab that top spot in the division.
The Yankees are still fighting for home field throughout the playoffs as well. If the Yankees can grab home field than the choice is clear, but even if they cannot Boone is still an easy choice in the AL to win manager of the year.
NL M.O.Y-Craig Counsell
Counsell may be an underdog to win the NL manager of the year, but his stock could quickly rise if the Brewers can get a playoff spot without potential MVP Christian Yelich. The Brewers currently sit in a wild card position and this should be enough for Counsell to win the awards should they remain.
Injuries are always something you have to deal with as a manager, but when your potential MVP goes down it makes it all the tougher. Yelich has been out most of this final month and the Brewers are still doing very well under Counsell. Counsell will only win the award if the Brewers make the playoffs, if not it could go to division rival Mike Shildt of the St. Louis Cardinals, who currently own the division title.