Francona, Kluber, Ramirez nominated for postseason awards

The Indians came up short in their quest to get back to and win the World Series, but three Tribe individuals have been named as finalists for prestigious postseason awards.

The Baseball Writers Association of America on Nov. 6 announced its nominees for Manager of the Year, MVP, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award winner in both leagues.

Voting is done before the playoffs.

Terry Francona of the Indians, A.J. Hinch from the Houston Astros and Paul Molitor of the Minnesota Twins are up for Manager of the Year. The Indians won 102 games and the world champion Astros won 101 games. The Twins finished 85-77 to make the playoffs as a wild card, but after finishing 59103 in 2016 they became the first team to lose more than 100 games one year and make the playoffs the next.

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, Chris Sale of the Red Sox and Luis Severino of the Yankees are nominated for the Cy Young Award.

Kluber is expected to win the Cy Young Award handily after finishing with a league-best 18-4 record along with a leagueleading 2.25 ERA. Sale was 17-8 and Severino 14-6.

Indians infielder Jose Ramirez, Houston second baseman Jose Altuve and Yankees slugger Aaron Judge are the candidates for MVP. Altuve is expected to win after leading the league with a .346 batting average. He homered 24 times and drove in 81 runs. Ramirez was fourth in batting with a .318 average, but had more home runs (29) and RBI (83) than Altuve.

Judge is also up for Rookie of the Year along with Andrew Benintendi of the Red Sox and Trey Mancini of the Orioles.

The winners will be announced next week on the MLB Network, all at 6 p.m. EST on the following days: Rookie of the Year on Nov. 13, Manager of the year on Nov. 14, Cy Young Award winner Nov. 15 and MVP on Nov. 16.

RED SOX INTRODUCE NEW MANAGER » Alex Cora was introduced Monday as the 47th manager of the Boston Red Sox. A native of Puerto Rico, the 42-yearold becomes the first minority manager of a club that was the last in the majors to field a black player.

Alex’s father, Jose Cora, was the founder of the Little League in his hometown of Caguas, Puerto Rico. He died in 1988, but his son still is propped up by the messages he learned from both his parents.

A middle infielder on Boston’s 2007 World Series championship team, Cora says he sees the job as a return home to “a perfect situation,” inheriting a young team coming off back-toback AL East titles under manager John Farrell.

Cora played four seasons for the Red Sox, and this year was the bench coach for the World Series champion Houston Astros. The Astros beat the Red Sox this year in the AL Division Series in a matchup of first-place teams.

NFL

RED SOX INTRODUCE NEW MANAGER » A federal appeals court has set a Thursday hearing as attorneys for Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott seek a longer-lasting injunction to stop his sixgame suspension over domestic violence allegations.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday issued an emergency stay of the NFL’s punishment, the third legal reprieve for Elliott. It him to play in Sunday’s game against Kansas City. Elliott scored the go-ahead touchdown in the Cowboy’s 28-17 win over the Chiefs.

It is possible, if not likely, that the three-judge panel will rule as early as Thursday, after oral arguments, on whether Elliott can play Sunday at Atlanta.

None of the judges assigned to Elliott’s case presided over the NFL’s winning appeal in Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s four-game suspension in the Deflategate case.

Elliott’s suspension has been weaving through the courts since he was ordered in August to serve the ban for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Olympics

RUSSIA WILL TRY TO OVERTURN DOPING BANS » Russia could try to overturn doping bans against its athletes in civil courts, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Mutko said Monday.

The International Olympic Committee banned two Russian cross-country skiers last week, stripping a gold medal from one. Those were the first Olympic rulings based on allegations that Russia operated a doping scheme at the 2014 Sochi Games.

The IOC disciplinary commission is due to rule on several other Russian athletes in the near future.