The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed shortened baseball season, which will be announced next week. It is a good bet that few of my original predictions for the winners will be accurate. Hopefully, these new predictions will be slightly better, especially since I’ll have a 33% chance of being right.
American League
Most Valuable Player: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Shohei Ohtani, Marcus Semien
Well, one difference between my pre-season selection, Aaron Judge, and the three finalists is that Judge played in a post-season game. I would assume Shohei Ohtani will walk away with this award.
Cy Young Award: Gerrit Cole, Lance Lynn, Robbie Ray
My initial guess was that Lucas Giolito would take home the prize, but my guess is Robbie Ray, who won the ERA title and led the major leagues in strikeouts, will take home the award.
Manager of the Year: Dusty Baker, Kevin Cash, Scott Servais
As usual, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season. I assume Mariners manager Scott Servais will win for keeping his team in contention until the final day of the season, despite his GM selling off his closer at the trade deadline.
Rookie of the Year: Randy Arozarena, Wander Franco, Luis Garcia
Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season. Assuming Arozarena and Franco don’t split the Tampa vote, I’m going to go with Franco.
National League
Most Valuable Player: Bryce Harper, Juan Soto, Fernando Tatis Jr.
Tatis was my pre-season prediction, but I think his numerous injuries and the time he lost due to them may leave the door open for someone else, like say Bryce Harper, to take home this award.
Cy Young Award: Corbin Burnes, Max Scherzer, Zack Wheeler
My prediction of Walker Buehler didn’t quite pan out, though I expect he will get some down-ballot support. My guess is Brewers ace Corbin Burnes wins this thing.
Manager of the Year: Craig Counsell, Gabe Kapler, Mike Schildt
While I would like to see Mike Schildt, who was recently let go by the Cardinals, win, I assume Gabe Kapler will run away and hide with this.
Rookie of the Year: Dylan Carlson, Jonathan India, Trevor Rogers
None of these finalists have really distinguished themselves from the others, so it’s hard to pick one. I’ll go with Dylan Carlson, because why not.