Mookie Betts, Jacob deGrom in the mix for NL awards
Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts could become the second player to win the MVP award in each league, and New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom is in the running for his third consecutive NL Cy Young Award.
The competition, of course, is tough.
Betts, Freddie Freeman and Manny Machado are the top finishers for NL MVP in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. DeGrom, Trevor Bauer and Yu Darvish are the finalists in the NL Cy Young race.
The three highest vote-getters for each BBWAA award were revealed on Monday. The winners will be announced next week.
Betts, who won the 2018 AL MVP award with Boston, helped the Dodgers win the World Series last week for the first time since 1988. Frank Robinson is the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues, accomplishing the feat in 1961 with Cincinnati and 1966 for Baltimore.
DeGrom could join Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux as the only pitchers to win at least three consecutive Cy Young Awards.
But Bauer had an NLbest 1.73 ERA in 11 starts for Cincinnati, and Darvish went 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts for the Chicago Cubs, matching Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber for the major league lead in wins.
Balloting for the BBWAA awards was completed before the start of the postseason.
Freeman batted .341 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs for the NL East champion Atlanta Braves, and Machado hit .304 with 16 homers and 47 RBIs for the San Diego Padres.
Bieber joined Minnesota Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda and Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu as finalists for the AL Cy Young Award. Bieber is the heavy favorite after the 25-yearold right-hander went 8-1 with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings, leading the majors in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
“My confidence continues to grow just from coming into the season or into the league in 2018,” Bieber said on MLB Network. “Learning my stuff, figuring it out, continuing to sharpen the breaking stuff and trying to add velocity as much as I can from year to year has been the big thing for me.”
Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu, Cleveland Indians infielder José Ramírez and New York Yankees leadoff man DJ LeMahieu are the top three finishers in voting for the AL MVP award.
LeMahieu, who hit a big league-best .364, and Bauer are free agents after starring during the pandemic-shortened season.
The top finishers in voting for AL Manager of the Year are Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash, Toronto’s Charlie Montoyo and Rick Renteria, who was let go by the White Sox after the team made the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
Cash was roundly criticized for pulling ace lefthander Blake Snell in the sixth inning of the decisive Game 6 of the World Series against the champion Dodgers.