MLB awards week – MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year experts’ picks, results and analysis
[ad_1]
It’s MLB awards week! Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and the Cy Young awards have been announced for both leagues, with the crown jewel — each league’s MVP — coming Thursday.
We’ve been heading in this direction over the past decade, but it’s now official: The Most Valuable Player Award has become, to the delight of analytics aficionados across baseball land, the best player in the league award. Traditionally, the writers based MVP honors on some sort of undefined fusion of on-field performance and team performance. The MVP winner usually — but not always — came from a playoff team.
This season, none of the six finalists reached the postseason. This is especially glaring with the National League finalists, as Bryce Harper’s Phillies finished 82-80, Fernando Tatis Jr.’s Padres finished 79-83 and Juan Soto’s Nationals went 65-97. At least the Phillies finished with a winning record — barely. This will be the first time since 1987, when Andre Dawson of the Cubs and George Bell of the Blue Jays won, that both MVP winners failed to reach the postseason. The only other two times this happened since the BBWAA began voting in 1931 were 1977 (George Foster and Rod Carew) and 1978 (Dave Parker and Jim Rice).
So the debate is essentially over. That doesn’t mean it makes it any easier to select the winner.
Here are the latest results and analysis from awards week, along with our ESPN MLB experts’ picks — and be sure to check back as this page will be updated as each award is handed out. — David Schoenfield
Jump to … :
Rookie of the Year: NL | AL
Manager of the Year: NL | AL
Cy Young: NL | AL
MVP: NL | AL
National League Cy Young
Winner: Corbin Burnes, Brewers
Final tally: Burnes 151 (12 first-place votes); Zack Wheeler, Phillies 141 (12); Max Scherzer, Nationals/Dodgers 113 (6); Walker Buehler, Dodgers 70
ESPN MLB experts’ picks: Wheeler 6 votes, Scherzer 4, Burnes 3
Bradford Doolittle’s take: Wow, that was close. On one hand, you have to…
[ad_2]
Source : espn
