The MLB postseason is right around the corner
Every year after a long marathon of a season, the MLB selects its winners of awards. These awards include the MVP’s, Cy Young Award winners and the Rookies of the Year. Who is on track to take home the hardware after this season’s 60 game sprint?
MVP
Mike Trout is in the race for MVP with a .296 batting average of 39 RBIs and a .648 slugging percentage. Trout is also tied for the MLB lead in home runs at 16. What might hurt Trout is the Angels are in last place (again) and need a miracle to make the playoffs with two weeks to go.
Nelson Cruz for the Twins continues to amaze at the ripe old age of 40. Cruz is batting .323 with 16 bombs and has Minnesota in the thick of the playoff race.
Over in the NL Mookie Betts has looked like everything the Dodgers wanted and more. Betts could be one of those, ‘best player on the best team’ takes home the award. The real story in the NL has been the Padres Fernando Tatis Jr. The 21-year-old leads the NL runs, and has San Diego primed for a deep postseason run for the first time in years.
Cy Young
Shane Bieber leads the AL in WAR for the Indians and is starting to separate himself from the rest of the Cy Young pack in the American League. The NL race is a lot more fun. Sure Jacob deGrom has been his normal dominant self, but there’s some real competition for the award this year.
Trevor Bauer seemingly strikes out 12 guys every single outing, and a revamped Yu Darvis is pitching like its 2014 again. The NL Cy Young race will be one of the most fun awards to track as the season winds down.
Rookie of the Year
The White Sox have gotten hot recently, with no shortage of help from rookie Luis Robert. Robert has batted .255 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI’s and a .509 slugging percentage. Another name on the list of Rookie of the Year candidates is pitcher Jesús Luzardo of the Athletics. Luzardo is 2-2 on the season with an ERA of 4.32 across 50 innings with 52 strikeouts.
In the NL Jake Cronenworth is helping the Padres find their stride as the rookie has put up incredible numbers so far in 2020. Cronenworth is batting an excellent .328 with a .562 slugging percentage and four homers. Sixto Sanchez of Miami is also having a great season with a 3-1 record and 1.69 ERA over 32 innings pitched.
Manager of the Year
The Rays have been a tough team to beat this season and the helm of the team is manager Kevin Cash. Last season the Rays finished second in AL East but got bested in the Divisional Series against the rival New York Yankees. This season the Rays are number one in the division, leading the Yankees by three and a half games.
Rick Renteria manager of the Chicago White Sox is also having a great season. As the White Sox are leading the AL Central Division by two games with a 31-16 record.
David Bell of the Reds is looking for his first NL Manager of the Year Award, as the Reds are 23-26 on the season. Bell has been with the Reds since 2019, and he has a combined win percentage of .464 on the two seasons.
The obvious choice in the NL is to just give the award to Dave Roberts. Roberts’ Dodgers own the best record in the MLB and are odds on favorites to win the World Series.
Or could the award go to Don Mattingly? Mattingly has the Marlin’s in playoff contention (no, for real, he does) in what was supposed to be a disappointing season.