THE NATIONALS’ PASTIME
First-half award winners a tougher call in the tighter National League
Washington fans had plenty to celebrate Monday, even if they didn’t catch a ball, when the Nationals’ Bryce Harper became the third hometown player to win baseball’s home-run derby. Harper beat the Cubs’ Kyle Schwarber 19-18 in the final. Get more coverage at thestar.com. More baseball,
At the all-star break last year, Chris Sale looked as if he might pull away in the American League Cy Young race. He already had 178 strikeouts, with only 22 walks.
By the end of the season, of course, Sale had to settle for second place — and not a particularly close second — after Corey Kluber took the award away with a torrid second half.
That’s just a roundabout way of saying that the following mid-season awards aren’t meant as predictions of who will actually win these in 2018. It’s just a quick attempt to honour the players who have stood out so far.
AL MVP
Top contenders: Mookie Betts, Red Sox; Aaron Judge, Yankees; Francisco Lindor, Indians; Jose Ramirez, Indians; Mike Trout, Angels
The pick: Trout. Trout leads the AL in on-base percentage, and although he’s second to Betts in OPS, he’s played in 19 more games than the Boston outfielder. Trout also has the lead in wins above replacement — both the Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs versions. You could put together an entire 10man MVP ballot that’s just Trout and nine players from the Red Sox, Yankees, Indians and Astros.
NL MVP
Top contenders: Lorenzo Cain, Brewers; Freddie Freeman, Braves; Max Muncy, Dodgers; Aaron Nola, Phillies
The pick: Cain. Right now The NL WAR leaderboard is topped by pitchers — Baseball-Reference has Nola, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer ahead of all position players. Just sorting out that trio is hard enough (more on that later) and it’s not clear if any of those right-handers has stood out enough to win MVP honours as a pitcher. Yes, you can actually make a bit of a case for Muncy, who has come out of nowhere to hit 22 homers and lift the Dodgers back to first place after a difficult start. But he doesn’t even qualify for the batting title yet.
The top position players are Freeman, the steady Atlanta slugger, and Cain. Although he’s only played 80 games himself, Cain has been a terrific allaround player,who seems to have given Milwaukee’s defence an important boost.
AL CY YOUNG
Top contenders: Trevor Bauer, Indians; Gerrit Cole, Astros; Corey Kluber, Indians; Chris Sale, Red Sox; Luis Severino, Yankees; Justin Verlander, Astros
The pick: Sale. At some point, all those strikeouts are going to be enough, right? Sale has finished in the top six of the Cy Young vote in each of the past six seasons. Last year, he fanned 308 batters — baseball’s highest total since 1999 — and got all of two first-place votes. Severino has 14 wins already, but Sale has an AL-leading 2.23 ERA and188 Ks.
NL CY YOUNG
Top contenders: Jacob deGrom, Mets; Josh Hader, Brewers; Aaron Nola, Phillies; Max Scherzer, Nationals; Ross Stripling, Dodgers The pick: deGrom. On the floundering Mets, deGrom has a 1.68 ERA that sets him apart from Nola (2.30) and Scherzer (2.41). Hader, a reliever, has a 1.50 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 48 innings. If Hader is receiving Cy Young support, Stripling (8-2 with a 2.08 ERA in 95 1⁄ 3 innings) should be, too.
AL ROOKIE
Top contenders: Shohei Ohtani, Angels; Gleyber Torres, Yankees The pick: Ohtani. Torres has the slightly better OPS and 84 more at-bats than Ohtani. Plus, Torres plays in the field at second base. The question is whether Ohtani’s pitching — a 3.10 ERA over nine starts — makes up for that. Right now it’s close. If Ohtani’s injured elbow keeps him off the mound, Torres likely overtakes him.
NL ROOKIE
Top contenders: Brian Anderson, Marlins; Harrison Bader, Cardinals; Seranthony Dominguez, Phillies; Juan Soto, Nationals The pick: Anderson. Soto has been terrific in 51 games, but his late start leaves him with a playing time deficit.
AL MANAGER
Top contenders: Aaron Boone, Yankees; Alex Cora, Red Sox; Bob Melvin, Athletics; Scott Servais, Mariners The pick: Cora. Boone and Cora took over talented rosters and have managed their transitions smoothly. Cora’s Red Sox could be on their way to one of the best regular seasons in that franchise’s (lengthy) history.
NL MANAGER
Top contenders: Craig Counsell, Brewers; Gabe Kapler, Phillies; Brian Snitker, Braves The pick: Kapler. It’s been quite a turnaround for Kapler after a tough start that had him getting booed at Philadelphia’s home opener. Now the Phillies are in first place despite having only one all-star in Nola.