MLB award predictions

Milwaukee Brewers Christian Yelich hits a home run during the first inning of Game 7 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

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Milwaukee Brewers’ Christian Yelich hits a home run during the first inning of Game 7 of the National League Championship Series baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

The MLB offseason is here.  The Red Sox are world champions after just wrapping up the postseason by beating the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.  The attention for baseball fans right now has shifted to where will sluggers like Bryce Harper and Manny Machado land this offseason along with many other free agents.  But before the hot stove catches flame, there are some awards to be given out.

The announcements of award winners will begin on November 12th with the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award.  The finalists are Ronald Acuna Jr., Walker Buehler, and Juan Soto in the National League along with Miguel Andujar, Shohei Ohtani, and Gleybar Torres in the American League.  In the NL, I have Acuna Jr. winning the award, although it will be close between him and Soto.  Both hitters had very similar stats but Acuna Jr. helped the Braves to a NL East title, as they were 8 games ahead of Soto’s Nationals.  In the AL, it’s pretty obvious in my opinion that Ohtani will win.  The two-way player from Japan hit for a .285 average and sent 22 home runs into the seats while still putting work into pitching as he had a 3.31 ERA for the Angels.

Then the Manager of the Year Award will be announced the next day.  The NL finalists are Bud Black, Craig Counsell, and Brian Snitker along with Kevin Cash, Alex Cora, and Bob Melvin in the AL.  Well Braves fans, I think you will have two winners as I believe the winner in the NL will be Braves manager Brian Snitker.  The Braves had zero playoff expectations coming into this season and Snitker somehow led the Braves to a NL East Division title.  In the AL, I have to go with Red Sox manager Alex Cora.  The rookie manager led his team to a World Series championship after having the best record in the regular season (108-54).

This will be followed with the Cy Young Award the next day.  In the NL, it is a NL East competition among Jacob deGrom, Aaron Nola, and Max Scherzer.  And in the AL, the finalists are Corey Kluber, Blake Snell, and Justin Verlander.  For me, it’s a two-man race in the NL between deGrom and Scherzer and it will depend on how the voters feel about a pitcher’s record.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see deGrom win, but I think Scherzer will win due to a much better record (18-7 compared to deGrom’s 10-9 record) than deGrom while also hitting the 300-strikeout milestone which led the MLB.  In the AL, my winner is Blake Snell.  Snell had the most wins (21) in the MLB along with the lowest ERA (1.89) in the AL while playing in a tough AL East division to pitch in.

And lastly, the most anticipated award, the MVPs will be announced on the 15th.  In the NL, the finalists are Nolan Arenado, Javier Baez, and Christian Yelich and the AL finalists are Mookie Betts, Jose Ramirez, and Mike Trout.  Yelich should run away with the MVP in the NL, his stats speak for themselves, a .326 batting average (1st in the NL), 36 home runs (tied for 3rd in the NL), and 110 RBIs (tied for 2nd in the NL) while leading the Brewers to a NL Central Division title.  And before I give my MVP prediction in the AL, I would like to state that in my opinion, none of the AL finalists should be MVP.  J.D. Martinez should be the AL MVP by far.  Mookie Betts, I believe will win and should based on the three finalists.  However, let’s look at Martinez compared to Betts.

Betts: .346 AVG  32 HR  80 RBIs

Martinez: .330 AVG  43 HR  130 RBIs

I understand Betts had the higher batting average but does a difference of .016 on a batting average makeup for a difference of 11 home runs and 50 RBIs?  In my opinion, absolutely not and it is absolute blasphemy that Martinez is not a finalist.

All the winners for these awards will be announced from November 12th-15th at 6 p.m. every day on MLB Network.