End of The Season Awards
By Colin Dixon November 6th, 2018
Picture Via @MLB Twitter
As of yesterday October 5th, the finalist for all of the major awards was announced for the MLB. We will find out who wins Rookie of the Year on November 12th, Manager of the Year on November 13th, Cy Young on November 14th, and the MVPs on November 15th.
For the Rookie of the year in the American League, the finalist was announced as Yankees 3rd Baseman Miguel Andujar, Angels Pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani, and Yankees 2nd baseman Gleyber Torres. On the other side in the National League, the finalist was Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña, Nationals outfielder Juan Soto, and Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler.
In the American league, I think it will come down to Miguel Andujar and Shohei Ohtani but I think Ohtani will win the award. Andujar may have had better-hitting stats than Ohtani but what helps Ohtani's case is that he also pitched in 10 games during the season. He finished with a 4-2 record with a 3.31 era along with a .285 batting average and 22 home runs.
In the National League, the battle went on all year between Ronald Acuña and Juan Soto, who are both young phenoms who are the future of the game of baseball. Soto who played this year at the age of 19 hit .292 with 22 home runs and 70 RBIs, while Acuña who played this year at the age of 20 hit .293 with 26 home runs and 64 RBIs. I think at the end of the day Acuña will win the Rookie of the Year because he meant more to his team throughout the year. Soto was a great player for the Nationals but Acuña managed to get a young Braves team back to the playoffs after not being in the playoffs since 2013.
Next, the candidates for manager of the year in the American League were Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays, Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox, and Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics. All these managers had eventful years and all of them deserve this award for what they did for their teams.
I personally think Kevin Cash should win Manager of the Year because he coached a team that was affected by the injury bug all year and managed to keep the Rays in playoff contention all year. Although they did not make the playoffs this year the way Cash managed his pitching rotation who at one point had 1 starting pitcher in it and the rest relievers were amazing. In the upcoming seasons if Cash can coach the same way he did this year but with a healthy team, his Rays could do some damage in the playoffs.
In the National League, the Manager of the Year nominees was Bud Black of the Rockies, Craig Counsell of the Brewers and Brian Snitker of the Braves. As in the American League, this race is pretty tight as all these coached had great years managing their ball clubs.
At the end of the day, I believe Craig Counsell will win Manager of the Year. Counsell led a Brewers team who was down to their last month of the season and they did not even know if they would make the playoffs but they ended up having the best record in the National League this season. Just like Cash Counsell had to manage a loaded bullpen and use them effectively all year and that is why I believe he will win the award.
Onto the Cy Young Award in the American League with nominees by the name of Cory Kluber, Blake Snell, and Justin Verlander. All of these pitchers managed terrific years but at the end of the day, the person who will win this award will be the newcomer to the list Blake Snell. Both Kluber and Verlander have won this honor but Snell flat out had a magnificent year.
Blake Snell went 21-5 this year with a 1.89 Era. Kluber and Verlander both had Era's over 2 and neither of them had over 20 wins like Snell did. In just his third year in the MLB Blake Snell should be the pitcher to win the AL Cy Young this year.
For the National League, Cy Young award the 3 nominees were Jacob DeGrom, Aaron Nola, and Max Scherzer. Both Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer had 17 and 18 wins respectively but neither of them pitched as dominant as Jacob DeGrom did this year.
Although DeGrom only won 10 games this year, he led the National League in Era with a 1.70. He also had 13 no decisions this year and many of those games he allowed 2 runs or less but the Mets were so bad they could not score enough runs to either win or stay ahead in games.
Lastly, the nominees for the MVP race in the American League are Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and José Ramírez. Shockingly J.D. Martinez was not on this list with his .330 batting average and his 43 home runs.
This year the MVP will be J.D.'s teammate Mookie Betts who hit .346 with 32 home runs. Betts made a large impact for the World Champion Red Sox and was definitely the most valuable player on any teams roster this year. Mike Trout only hit .312 with 32 home runs and José Ramírez only had a .270 average with 39 home runs so to me it was a no-brainer that Betts would win.
In the National League, the race is a lot tighter with the nominees of Christian Yelich, Javier Báez, and Nolan Arenado. All three of these players each led a triple crown category this year but only one of them was close to leading all three. Báez led the National League with 111 RBIs on the season, Arenado led the National League with 38 home runs, and Yelich led the National League with a .326 batting average.
Christian Yelich was the player who was close to leading all those categories, he was just 2 home runs short from Nolan Arenado and 1 Rbi short of tying Javier Báez. Yelich is the clear-cut winner of this award in my eyes and just like Betts he was the most valuable player on his team and in the league and the Brewers would not have been as good as they were this season without him in the lineup.
2018 was a very memorable year in baseball and these players and coaches made it fun to watch and it will be exciting to see how they all do in 2019.
Picture Via @MLB Twitter
As of yesterday October 5th, the finalist for all of the major awards was announced for the MLB. We will find out who wins Rookie of the Year on November 12th, Manager of the Year on November 13th, Cy Young on November 14th, and the MVPs on November 15th.
For the Rookie of the year in the American League, the finalist was announced as Yankees 3rd Baseman Miguel Andujar, Angels Pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani, and Yankees 2nd baseman Gleyber Torres. On the other side in the National League, the finalist was Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña, Nationals outfielder Juan Soto, and Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler.
In the American league, I think it will come down to Miguel Andujar and Shohei Ohtani but I think Ohtani will win the award. Andujar may have had better-hitting stats than Ohtani but what helps Ohtani's case is that he also pitched in 10 games during the season. He finished with a 4-2 record with a 3.31 era along with a .285 batting average and 22 home runs.
In the National League, the battle went on all year between Ronald Acuña and Juan Soto, who are both young phenoms who are the future of the game of baseball. Soto who played this year at the age of 19 hit .292 with 22 home runs and 70 RBIs, while Acuña who played this year at the age of 20 hit .293 with 26 home runs and 64 RBIs. I think at the end of the day Acuña will win the Rookie of the Year because he meant more to his team throughout the year. Soto was a great player for the Nationals but Acuña managed to get a young Braves team back to the playoffs after not being in the playoffs since 2013.
Next, the candidates for manager of the year in the American League were Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays, Alex Cora of the Boston Red Sox, and Bob Melvin of the Oakland Athletics. All these managers had eventful years and all of them deserve this award for what they did for their teams.
I personally think Kevin Cash should win Manager of the Year because he coached a team that was affected by the injury bug all year and managed to keep the Rays in playoff contention all year. Although they did not make the playoffs this year the way Cash managed his pitching rotation who at one point had 1 starting pitcher in it and the rest relievers were amazing. In the upcoming seasons if Cash can coach the same way he did this year but with a healthy team, his Rays could do some damage in the playoffs.
In the National League, the Manager of the Year nominees was Bud Black of the Rockies, Craig Counsell of the Brewers and Brian Snitker of the Braves. As in the American League, this race is pretty tight as all these coached had great years managing their ball clubs.
At the end of the day, I believe Craig Counsell will win Manager of the Year. Counsell led a Brewers team who was down to their last month of the season and they did not even know if they would make the playoffs but they ended up having the best record in the National League this season. Just like Cash Counsell had to manage a loaded bullpen and use them effectively all year and that is why I believe he will win the award.
Onto the Cy Young Award in the American League with nominees by the name of Cory Kluber, Blake Snell, and Justin Verlander. All of these pitchers managed terrific years but at the end of the day, the person who will win this award will be the newcomer to the list Blake Snell. Both Kluber and Verlander have won this honor but Snell flat out had a magnificent year.
Blake Snell went 21-5 this year with a 1.89 Era. Kluber and Verlander both had Era's over 2 and neither of them had over 20 wins like Snell did. In just his third year in the MLB Blake Snell should be the pitcher to win the AL Cy Young this year.
For the National League, Cy Young award the 3 nominees were Jacob DeGrom, Aaron Nola, and Max Scherzer. Both Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer had 17 and 18 wins respectively but neither of them pitched as dominant as Jacob DeGrom did this year.
Although DeGrom only won 10 games this year, he led the National League in Era with a 1.70. He also had 13 no decisions this year and many of those games he allowed 2 runs or less but the Mets were so bad they could not score enough runs to either win or stay ahead in games.
Lastly, the nominees for the MVP race in the American League are Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, and José Ramírez. Shockingly J.D. Martinez was not on this list with his .330 batting average and his 43 home runs.
This year the MVP will be J.D.'s teammate Mookie Betts who hit .346 with 32 home runs. Betts made a large impact for the World Champion Red Sox and was definitely the most valuable player on any teams roster this year. Mike Trout only hit .312 with 32 home runs and José Ramírez only had a .270 average with 39 home runs so to me it was a no-brainer that Betts would win.
In the National League, the race is a lot tighter with the nominees of Christian Yelich, Javier Báez, and Nolan Arenado. All three of these players each led a triple crown category this year but only one of them was close to leading all three. Báez led the National League with 111 RBIs on the season, Arenado led the National League with 38 home runs, and Yelich led the National League with a .326 batting average.
Christian Yelich was the player who was close to leading all those categories, he was just 2 home runs short from Nolan Arenado and 1 Rbi short of tying Javier Báez. Yelich is the clear-cut winner of this award in my eyes and just like Betts he was the most valuable player on his team and in the league and the Brewers would not have been as good as they were this season without him in the lineup.
2018 was a very memorable year in baseball and these players and coaches made it fun to watch and it will be exciting to see how they all do in 2019.
