Betts, Yelich MVP picks
Now that the regular season is finally in the books, time to bestow baseball’s biggest individual prizes. It took one extra day to sort out the playoff bracket, but these debates have been underway for weeks.
Christian Yelich seems a cinch for NL MVP, but is it Mookie Betts or Boston teammate J.D. Martinez in the American League?
Jacob deGrom or Max Scherzer for the NL Cy Young Award?
Shohei Ohtani or Miguel Andujar for AL Rookie of the Year?
Martinez has been a monster at the plate in his first season with the Red Sox after signing a $110 million, five-year contract. He launched 43 home runs and led the majors with 130 RBIs. He compiled a 1.031 OPS and hit .330, finishing second to Betts (.346) in the batting race.
All big reasons why Boston had the best record in baseball at 10854.
Hitting at the top of the order, Betts had 32 homers, 80 RBIs, 129 runs and a whopping 1.078 OPS.
But on defense and the bases, it’s no comparison. Martinez started 57 games in the outfield but 93 at designated hitter. Betts, a sensational defender, started 115 games in right field and 13 in center. Plus, he stole 30 bases in 36 attempts.
All those elite skills. That’s why he led the majors in wins above replacement with 10.9 (per baseball-reference.com).
Angels star Mike Trout merits his annual look, along with Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, Cleveland infielder Jose
Ramirez and Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor.
But in the end, Betts is the clear winner after being runner-up to Trout two years ago.
Voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is conducted before the postseason opener Tuesday night, and results will be announced in November.
Here are our selections for the other top awards:
NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP: With a huge second half, Yelich practically carried Milwaukee to an NL Central championship and the best record in the league during his first season with the team.
He came within a wisp
of becoming the first Triple Crown winner in the National League since Joe “Ducky” Medwick in 1937. Yelich won the batting title with a .326 average and had 36 homers to go with 110 RBIs, 118 runs, 22 steals in 26 tries and a 1.000 OPS that led the league by a wide margin.
He came through with three hits and an RBI as the Brewers beat the Cubs 3-1 on Monday in a onegame tiebreaker for the division crown at Wrigley Field.
That’s how MVP awards are won, and this election won’t be close. Could be unanimous.
AL CY YOUNG: Young lefty Blake Snell of the
Tampa Bay Rays wins with a 21-5 record and leagueleading 1.89 ERA in 180 2/3 innings. But it should be a tighter vote than projected.
The guy getting overlooked a bit is Houston ace Justin Verlander (169, 2.52), who had a lower WHIP than Snell in 214 innings. Verlander struck out a league-high 290 hitters and walked only 37. Incredible.
NL CY YOUNG: At one point late in the season, this was a close and compelling three-way race between deGrom, Scherzer and Aaron Nola. And then deGrom left everyone in the dust, finishing with a major league-low 1.70 ERA in 217 innings.