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Here is who I'm predicting to win the major awards at the end of the season (and why):

National League:

MVP: Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins - Leads the NL in home runs and WAR (Wins about Replacement), is also 2nd in the NL in RBI, trailing 1st place by 1. Stanton is also batting .289. The only other player who can challenge Stanton will be Joey Votto of the Reds.

Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers - This is a no-brainer, like several other times. Kershaw leads all of baseball with a 2.04 ERA and is tied for 2nd in all of baseball in wins with 15. He's also 8th in strikeouts and #6 in WAR among pitchers. There are two other pitchers who could challenge Kershaw, Zack Greinke of the D-Backs (1st in wins and 5th in ERA) and Max Scherzer of the Nationals (1st in strikeouts and 2nd in ERA).

Rookie of the Year: Cody Bellinger, Dodgers - And this one isn't even close. Bellinger is tied for 2nd in the NL in home runs with 34 and tied with Votto. Carries a .271 BA with 79 RBI. There will be nobody else that challenges him for this award.

Manager of the Year: Dave Roberts, Dodgers - Also a no-brainer. The Dodgers are 91-41 and have ten more wins than any other team in the majors. Only other manager that may challenge would be Craig Counsell of the Brewers.

American League:

MVP: Jose Altuve, Astros - This one is more of a toss up because there is no single player that is in the top five in home runs, batting average and runs batted in. Altuve is batting .355, which is .31 higher than the second best in the AL and he has the highest WAR in baseball at 6.9. Although not a power hitter, he still has 21 home runs and 71 RBI. Only other contending player (in my opinion) is Jonathan Schoop of the Orioles who is #4 in BA and #2 in RBI and also has 30 home runs.

Cy Young: Chris Sale, Red Sox - This is a pretty clear cut one in my opinion. Sale has the most strikeouts in the league by 40, has the most wins in the AL with 15, and is 2nd in ERA only trailing Kluber of the Indians. There is no competitor for Sale for this award.

Rookie of the Year: Aaron Judge, Yankees - This is another obvious one. Judge leads the AL in home runs with 37 as a rookie, and also has 82 RBI and carries a .279 BA on the season. He is also #4 in the AL with a 5.4 WAR. There are no other real contenders for this award.

Manager of the Year: AJ Hinch, Astros - Yet again, Hinch has taken a team that is okay on paper and turned them into the best team in the AL, evidenced with his AL leading 80-53 record. My runner-up for this award would be Terry Francona of the Indians, who has the second most wins in the AL, and is trying to take his team back to the World Series for a second consecutive year.

Looks pretty good except I switch Corey Kluber over Sale for Cy Young. Sale got clobbered by the Tribe in his starts against them this year. Kluber has less appearances due to injury which could work for him or against him depending on how the voters look at it.

NL MVP - Paul Goldschmidt (tied with Stanton with a 6.3 WAR, much better team, and has finished 2nd twice)
NL Cy Young - Scherzer (he won because of his WAR and SO last year, this year will be the same, plus he hasn't missed 7-8 starts like Kershaw)

AL MVP - Altuve
AL Cy Young - Sale, but Kluber is really close.

Worst front office of the year again goes to Pittsburgh.

Mister Bee wrote: ↑Fri Sep 01, 2017 5:13 pm Worst front office of the year again goes to Pittsburgh.

My God the reasoning behind putting Nicasio on waivers is hilarious. They did literally one thing to even attempt to help their playoff hopes and that was to get a 40 year old middle reliever lol

I may end up switching my vote for the NL CY, because if Kershaw can finish strong, then that may sway me towards him since I already think it's close. I just don't trust his back to be able to finish the year.

Everything the Pirates do is to help their bottom line for owner Bob (Nothing) Nutting.

The luxury tax was designed for smaller market teams to use that money to go out and get better players so they could compete. Our last owner and current owner have both used the money to pay down debt AND line their pockets. Very hard to be a Bucco fan when we have basically given up each year by June 15th.

Nicasio on waivers was more of the same but on a much bigger scale. Ownership saved $600K and we got nothing in return AND then the Philies trade him to the Cards. Unreal.

As for the NL CY, because of Kershaw's missed starts, I don't think he will win but will finish no worse than 3rd.

As always...

LETS GO BUCS!!!

The way Houston has been playing their coach may not win it now.

Boy aint that the truth! The Dodgers are in major slump as well. I don't think Cleveland will lose another game the rest of the year. Cleveland about to get another championship, I will be curious to see how their parade is compared to the Cavs.

I'll do an update on mine with less than 5 days to go in the season.

National League

MVP: Stanton. Goldy has fallen off since my last post, but still should finish in the Top 5. Votto is getting a heavy push by some in the media, but I don't see it happening since the MVP has only once came from a last place team. He's had an amazing year though. No standouts for the Dodgers, Nationals, or Cubs that will win. Nolan Arenado is likely to finish in the top 3. JD Martinez should get some attention too, especially if Cespedes did while doing much less in 2015.

Cy Young: Scherzer. This will seal him as a Hall of Famer with 2 in each League. It could go to a trio of pitchers though, Kershaw (like always) and Gio Gonzalez will push for it. Grienke and Robbie Ray of the DBacks could be sleepers.

Rookie of the Year: Bellinger, but Rhys Hoskins will likely finish 2nd in nearly a third of the games played. What an insane year for rookies in baseball.

Manager of the Year: Torey Lovello (ARI), but Craig Counsill, Dave Roberts, and Bud Black should get heavy consideration.

American League

MVP: Judge. Altuve has had an amazing year, but the fact that Judge carried the Yankees early and now late stands out to me. Trout, Jose Ramirez, Lindor, Springer, and Andrelton Simmons should get a good amount of votes as well. I'd love to see Byron Buxton get some love too, even though he was pretty terrible the first half, he's been out of this world since the AS Break.

Cy Young: Kluber. This was tight until the last couple of weeks, but the Klubot has flown past Sale and will win his 2nd Cy Young.

Rookie of the Year: Judge, duh.

Manager of the Year: Paul Molitor. Tito has been awesome, Hinch and Girardi have done bang-up jobs, but the Twins are the first team to ever make the playoffs after they lost 100 games the year before.

I'll go ahead and update my predictions as well:

National League:

MVP: I'm sticking with Stanton for this one. Still leads the NL in WAR, and has carried his team on his back the whole season, also leads the home run race by a mile. He might hit 60. His average is a little low for my liking, .276, but this award is his.

Cy Young: It's between Kershaw and Scherzer, but I'm going with Kershaw. Leads the NL in Wins and ERA and has 200 strikeouts. Scherzer has more strikeouts, in about 20 innings more pitched. But, this one is a toss up.

Rookie of the Year: This one has to be Bellinger, there are some other rookies who had good years, but nothing like his.

Manager of the Year: Torey Lovello from Arizona, I agree with danicalifornia. My original pick was Dave Roberts, but what Lovello has done in Arizona has been pretty impressive.

American League:

MVP: I have to stay with Altuve in this one. Leads all of baseball in BA by a mile. Also has blasted 24 HR and 81 RBI at 2B. He's also 3rd in runs scored and 2nd in stolen bases. But, if Judge won this award, I wouldn't be surprised. Hitting .284 with 50 HR and 111 RBI.

Cy Young: Kluber, he's surpassed Sale in my mind. Leading the AL in Wins and ERA (by a mile). His team also has the best record.

Rookie of the Year: Judge, no question, first rookie to hit 50 home runs in a season.

Manager of the Year: Tito for the Indians. Molitor will be runner up for what he's done in Minnesota. But the Indians made the series last year, and look like the best team in baseball this year.