There are few things baseball fans like more than sharing their opinions on who deserves end of season awards in baseball. Thus, we gathered 17 staff writers who happily voted for their top three in AL/NL MVP, AL/NL Cy Young and AL/NL Rookie of the Year.
All awards were voted on before the start of playoffs.
AL MVP
Shane Bieber - 31 points 🥇
Jose Ramirez - 30 points 🥈
Jose Abreu - 26 points 🥉
DJ LeMahieu - 8 points
Mike Trout - 5 points
Nelson Cruz - 1 point
We expect this to be the top three for the real voting but the actual order is anyone’s guess. It was an extremely tight race at the top. Shane Bieber was unquestionably baseball’s best starter, enough to win the PLive AL MVP award. JoRam’s 1.294 OPS in September is going to be hard to ignore along with slightly above average defense. And Jose Abreu has the old school numbers, a league leading 60 RBI, second in HR (19) in baseball and an insane September at a time when a couple of his teammates cooled off.
NL MVP
Freddie Freeman - 50 points 🥇
Fernando Tatis Jr. - 15 points 🥈
Juan Soto - 15 points 🥈
Mookie Betts - 13 points 🥉
Marcell Ozuna - 4 points
Corey Seager - 3 point
Trevor Bauer - 1 point
Trevor Story - 1 point
Much like it was in our voting, we expect Freddie Freeman to run away with the NL MVP award. He was top three in AVG, OBP, SLG, runs, RBI, wRC+ and wOBA. And what separates him from Juan Soto, who bested him in almost all those categories, is an extra 66 PA, or about 16 games’ worth, which is a quarter of the season. Can’t overlook quantity in a shortened season. The cherry on top for Freeman is doing all this after having a severe bout with COVID-19 in the summer camp.
AL Cy Young
Shane Bieber - 50 points 🥇
Kenta Maeda - 30 points 🥈
Hyun-Jin Ryu - 13 points 🥉
Dallas Keuchel- 4 points
Liam Hendriks - 3 points
Another runaway award, Bieber was the best pitcher wire to wire from the day he struck out 14 Royals in his first start to his 10 strikeout performance in his last. He was so good that he won the first Triple Crown for a pitcher since Justin Verlander did it in 2011. With freed shackles, Kenta Maeda flourished in Minnesota, leaning more on his deadly slider and changeup to keep hitters off balance all season long. Hyun-Jin Ryu didn’t post the numbers of the first two guys, but go and look at what Buffalo’s home park is like for runs and come back and be blown away that he did that there and against the East.
NL Cy Young
Trevor Bauer - 35 points 🥇
Yu Darvish - 30 points 🥈
Jacob deGrom - 29 points 🥉
Dinelson Lamet- 1 point
This is going to prove to be one of the tighest races. Bauer won the PLive NL Cy on the back of more first place votes and really your choice comes down to what you prefer. If you think making the playoffs wasn’t a huge factor and perhaps strength of schedule does, then deGrom and his NL-best K% and 2.26 FIP (just behind Darvish’s 2.23) could sway you. If you do value postseason appearance, then it’s down to Bauer and Darvish. The Reds were much better armed than the Cubs in the rotation and especially in the bullpen, so you can make a case that Darvish’s contributions were much more critical than Bauer’s. If Bauer doesn’t win, expect to see a Twitter meltdown and three Momentum videos about it.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Kyle Lewis - 48 points 🥇
Luis Robert - 19 points 🥈
James Karinchak - 15 points 🥉
Sean Murphy- 14 points
Cristian Javier - 4 points
Willi Castro - 1 point
Randy Dobnak- 1 point
Justus Sheffield - 1 point
It was Luis Robert’s award to lose after August and that he did. But it’s fair to point out that despite Robert’s 21 wRC+ in September, Lewis staggered to the finish line as well with a 56 wRC+. But the spotlight had always been on Robert and his ice cold finish seems to have subjectively hurt him more. The big differentiators were Lewis’ ability to take a walk (3rd in BB% among rookies with min. 100 PA) and morphing into someone that used all fields to improve his AVG. Karinchak’s numbers need no introduction. He led all AL relievers in K% and was so good in that department that even with a whopping 14 BB%, he was still fourth in baseball with a 33.9 K-BB%. Sean Murphy’s spectacular defense behind home plate helps elevate his .233/.364/.457 line as he he became one of the most productive two-way catchers in baseball despite 43 games.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Devin Williams - 38 points 🥇
Jake Cronenworth - 29 points 🥈
Alec Bohm - 14 points 🥉
Sixto Sanchez- 8 points
Ke’Bryan Hayes - 3 points
Kwang Hyun Kim - 2 point
Tony Gonsolin- 1 point
Every year a couple of relief pitchers break out and announce their presence in spectacular fashion. Devin Williams was the poster child for that in 2020. He led all relievers in K%, K-BB%, BAA, WAR, ERA and FIP. His reverse slider/screwball change broke pitch classification and he became part of the best 1-2 punch in baseball behind Josh Hader. Considering the Brewers barely made it in, removing him from the equation could truly be the difference in making it and not making it. Cronenworth’s accomplishments are notable, starting games at 1B, 2B and SS with above average defense in the first two spots and coming in 2nd in AVG, 3rd in OBP, 2nd in SLG for NL rookies min. 100 PA.