The Baseball Writers of America have announced the finalists for their awards for the just completed 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: Jose Altuve, Aaron Judge, Jose Ramirez
Francisco Lindor was was my pre-season selection to win the award this year, but he was left out of the top three in part to his teammate Jose Ramirez. Judge should be a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year, leaving Jose Altuve to take home the award, adding to his hardware.
Cy Young Award: Corey Kluber, Chris Sale, Luis Severino
Ironically, in his first year away from the White Sox, Chris Sale will finally win his first Cy Young award.
Manager of the Year: Terry Francona, A.J. Hinch, Paul Molitor
Once again, I didn’t make any predictions for this award prior to the season. I’m guessing the surprising Twins will give Paul Molitor some love, but A.J. Hinch should take home the award.
Rookie of the Year: Andrew Benintendi, Aaron Judge, Trey Mancini
Another award I didn’t predict prior to the season. Judge just might be a unanimous selection.
National League
Most Valuable Player: Paul Goldschmidt, Giancarlo Stanton, Joey Votto
With nobody from the NL Champion Dodgers in the running, I’m going to guess that the offensive numbers put up by Giancarlo Stanton, even for a sub-.500 Marlins team, will earn him the award. Hopefully he doesn’t get traded before the announcement.
Cy Young Award: Clayton Kershaw, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg
Kershaw missed some time due to injury and Scherzer and Strasburg may split the Nationals vote, so this one will be hard to call. My guess is that it goes to Scherzer.
Manager of the Year: Bud Black, Torey Lovullo, Dave Roberts
The Dodgers spent most of the year with one of the better records in major league history, so I’m guessing Dave Roberts will be the choice.
Rookie of the Year: Josh Bell, Cody Bellinger, Paul DeJong
The Dodgers have always produced strong contenders for Rookie of the Year, and this year is no different. I would expect Bellinger to take home the award.