Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout top the list of finalists for MLB’s postseason awards
Next week we’ll find out who takes home baseball’s most prestigious end-of-the-season hardware: the American League and National League MVP, and Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards.
On Tuesday, however, the three finalists for each award were revealed. Among the proven stars and breakout performers on the short lists: Clayton Kershaw, Mike Trout, Victor Martinez, Felix Hernandez, Johnny Cueto, Corey Kluber, Jose Abreu and Jacob deGrom.
At this point, there aren’t too many surprises in the top threes — though Michael Brantley of the Cleveland Indians being an MVP finalist qualifies, though he’s definitely worthy. The biggest storylines to watch will be the tight AL Cy Young vote between Hernandez and Kluber, whether Trout finally gets an MVP and if Kershaw can win both the Cy Young and MVP award in the NL.
Winners, as determined by a vote of the Baseball Writers Association of America, will be announced over four days beginning Monday, Nov. 10. Here are the top three finalists in each category. Note: Only regular-season play is considered.
AL MVP FINALISTS
• Michael Brantley (Cleveland Indians)
• Victor Martinez (Detroit Tigers)
• Mike Trout (Los Angeles Angels)
Favorite: It’s Trout’s year. After finishing second to Miguel Cabrera in 2012 and 2013, Trout should finally win the award this season. Miggy had a down year in 2014 and while teammate Martinez is formidable competition, Trout was the best all-around position player in MLB.
Top snub: Alex Gordon stepped up his game in 2014, turning the Kansas City Royals into a postseason team (and eventual World Series team). His defense was stellar, which gives him a nod over Martinez, a DH.
NL MVP FINALISTS
• Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Andrew McCutchen (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Giancarlo Stanton (Miami Marlins)
Favorite: This will be one of the toughest to predict. Kershaw tops the list, but some voters don’t like to consider pitchers as MVPs, so that could hurt his vote totals.
Top snub: The correct three guys are at the top of the list, but Anthony Rendon of the Washington Nationals at least warrants a mention. His 6.6 Wins Above Replacement were third among position players, according to Fangraphs (tied with Brantley).
AL CY YOUNG FINALISTS
• Felix Hernandez (Seattle Mariners)
• Corey Kluber (Cleveland Indians)
• Chris Sale (Chicago White Sox)
Favorite: It’s a toss-up between Hernandez and Kluber. King Felix seemed to have it locked down before a rough August when his ERA was 3.31. Kluber, meanwhile, had a strong second half, going 9-3 with a 1.73 ERA after the All-Star break. King Felix is probably still the favorite, but only slightly so.
Top snub: Again, these are the correct three finalists. You could make a case for Max Scherzer as a fringe candidate, if you really had to. But the most intriguing name not on the list is Garrett Richards, the Angels starter who had a breakthrough season end prematurely because of injury.
NL CY YOUNG FINALISTS
• Johnny Cueto (Cincinnati Reds)
• Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers)
• Adam Wainwright (St. Louis Cardinals)
Favorite: Kershaw, in a landslide.
Top snub: This doesn’t include the postseason, obviously, but Giants ace Madison Bumgarner logged 217 innings, 18 wins and a sub-3.00 ERA. It’s not quite Kershaw-like, but it was still great.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
• Jose Abreu (Chicago White Sox)
• Dellin Betances (New York Yankees)
• Matt Shoemaker (Los Angeles Angels)
Favorite: Abreu is the runaway favorite here. He smacked 36 homers and drove in 107 runs for the White Sox. The only knock on Abreu would be that he’s 27 and played baseball professionally in Cuba before coming to MLB.
Top snub(s): He’s not exactly a “snub,” but the name most notably absent is Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees ace who was imported from Japan. He was 13-5 with a 2.77 ERA before elbow issues sidelined him in July. Astros pitcher Colin McHugh also had an impressive season, and had better numbers than Shoemaker in some categories.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
• Jacob deGrom (New York Mets)
• Billy Hamilton (Cincinnati Reds)
• Kolten Wong (St. Louis Cardinals)
Favorite: Hamilton was the preseason favorite, but deGrom was 6-1 with a 2.16 ERA after the All-Star break to solidify his case. He’s already won the Player’s Choice award for top NL rookie, so deGrom is a slight favorite over Hamilton at this point. This will also be a tight vote.
Top snub: It’s a pretty weak field after those three. The next top name would be Ender Inciarte of the D-backs. Joe Panik didn’t play enough for the Giants to build a strong case, but given a full season, he might have been a contender.
AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
• Mike Scioscia (Los Angeles Angels)
• Buck Showalter (Baltimore Orioles)
• Ned Yost (Kansas City Royals)
Favorite: Showalter, a two-time winner already, is regarded as the favorite. He made the Orioles runaway AL East champions while dealing with a number of injuries —Matt Wieters and Manny Machado, for example. Scioscia, however, edged him by one vote for the Sporting News’ similar award.
Top snub: Lloyd McClendon did a great job in his first year at the helm in Seattle, getting more out of the Mariners than most expected. They finished a game out of the postseason.
NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS
• Bruce Bochy (San Francisco Giants)
• Clint Hurdle (Pittsburgh Pirates)
• Matt Williams (Washington Nationals)
Favorite: Williams won the Sporting News’ award, so that bodes well for him moving forward, but Bochy kept the up-and-down Giants on track enough to make it into the postseason, so he could be close.
Top snub: Give Mike Redmond some credit in Miami. The Marlins were better than we all expected, winning 77 games and getting closer to .500. Most of that is Giancarlo Stanton having a monster season, but Redmond got a lot out of his guys.
AWARD SCHEDULE
• Nov. 10: Rookie of the year winners announced
• Nov. 11: Manager of the year winners announced
• Nov. 12: Cy Young winners announced
• Nov. 13: MVP winners announced
** Winners announced on MLB Network, 6 p.m. ET
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Mike Oz is an editor for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz
