Alvarez, Bregman, Cole, Verlander up for hardware

Astros in position to sweep top three awards next week

Belaboring the obvious, the Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday announced Astros pitchers Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander as finalists for the American League’s Cy Young Award, and third baseman Alex Bregman and designated hitter Yordan Alvarez as finalists for AL Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year, respectively.

Cole and Verlander were the only teammates nominated for the same BBWAA award, and their selection as finalists along with Bregman and Alvarez give the Astros a chance to sweep the AL’s top three player awards when the winners are announced next week.

All three Astros players were considerable favorites to be finalists for their respective awards, which are based on regular-season performances.

Cole, in his seventh big league season and second with the Astros, was 20-5 with a 2.50 ERA and a league-leading 326 strikeouts in 2121⁄3 innings. He averaged 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings, a major league record, and a walks-plus-hits per innings pitched average of 0.895, second among all major league pitchers to Verlander.

Verlander, the 2011 Cy Young winner and a three-time runnerup for the award, was 21-6 with a 2.58 ERA and 300 strikeouts in 223 innings during his second full season with the Astros. His 0.803 WHIP was the best in baseball, and he averaged 121⁄3 strikeouts per nine innings and recorded his third career no-hitter Sept. 1 against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Former Astros pitcher Charlie Morton of the Rays was the third AL Cy Young finalist.

All three AL MVP finalists played in the American League West – Bregman, infielder Marcus Semien of the A’s and twotime MVP Mike Trout of the Angels.

Bregman, in his fourth major league season, split time between third base and shortstop and had a career-best 41 homers with 112 RBIs. His on-base plus slugging percentage totaled 1.015, third-best in the AL, and his 112 walks led the majors.

Alvarez hit .313 with 27 home runs and 78 RBIs in 87 games and had an OPS of 1.067. He played 56 games at Class AAA Round Rock before being elevated to the majors, hitting 23 homers in 56 games with a 1.184 OPS.

The other AL rookie finalists were infielder Brandon Lowe of the Rays and Orioles left-hander John Means.

Rocco Baldelli of the Twins, who led Minnesota to 101 wins in his first season as a manager after a 78-84 record in 2018, Aaron Boone of the Yankees and Kevin Cash of the Rays were finalists for the AL Manager of the Year.

Astros manager A.J. Hinch was not a finalist despite the Astros’ team-record 107 wins in 2017.

Craig Counsell of the Brewers, Mike Shildt of the Cardinals and

Brian Snitker of the Braves were National League managerial finalists.

In similar fashion to Hinch, Dave Martinez of the World Series champion Nationals was not a finalist.

Anthony Rendon, the former Lamar High School and Rice University third baseman who played a critical role in the Nationals’ World Series win over the Astros, was one of three finalists for NL Most Valuable Player.

Rendon, who is a free agent, was joined as a finalist by Dodgers outfielder-first baseman Cody Bellinger and 2018 MVP Christian Yelich of the Brewers.

Nationals right-hander Max Scherzer, who got the win in World Series Game 1 against the Astros and started Game 7 after nerve issues in his neck required him to scratch his Game 5 start, was a finalist for the NL Cy Young Award with the Mets’ Jacob DeGrom and Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu.

NL Rookie of the Year finalists were Mets first baseman Pete Alonso, right-hander Mike Soroka

of the Braves and Padres shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr.

Three Astros pitcher have won the Cy Young Award — Mike Scott in 1986 and Roger Clemens in 2004, both in the National League, and Dallas Keuchel in 2015 after the Astros’ move to the American League.

Jeff Bagwell in 1994 and Jose Altuve in 2017 were MVP winners, and Bagwell in 1991 and Carlos Correa in 2015 were Rookies of the Year.

Awards will be presented next week, beginning with rookies Monday, managers Tuesday, pitchers Wednesday and the MVP awards Thursday.

Two voters from each league city vote for the awards, with voters in American League cities selecting AL awards and voters in National League cities voting for NL honors.

Chronicle writers do not vote for BBWAA awards in accordance with the newspaper’s ethics policy.