The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Who’ll get the hardware?

Baseball set to honor its top players, managers.

- By Steven Marcus

Red Sox All-Star Mookie Betts is the first 30-30 batting champion.

Balloting for the Baseball Writers’ Associatio­n of America postseason awards ended on the last day of the regular season, but the results will not be revealed until next week. Here’s a look at the three finalists for each award in predicted order of finish:

AL Rookie of the Year

Shohei Ohtani, P/DH, Angels: In a 104-game season shortened by injury, he hit .285 with 22 home runs and drove in 61 in 326 at-bats. He was 4-2 on the mound with 63 strikeouts in 51⅓ innings before his right elbow gave out. He had Tommy John surgery but is expected to DH in 2019.

Miguel Andujar, 3B, Yankees: Any other year and he’d win. The Yankees’ most consistent hitter averaged .297 with 27 homers and 92 RBIs. He set a rookie record for doubles with 47, topping Joe DiMaggio’s 44 in 1936.

Gleyber Torres, 2B, Yankees: Torres was called up in late April and had a big May, batting .325 with nine home runs. He made the AllStar team but wasn’t quite the same after a hip injury. A .271 average with 24 homers and 77 RBIs makes him an also-ran for ROY.

NL Rookie of the Year

Ronald Acuna Jr., OF, Braves: The Braves won the NL East, and the 20-year-old Acuna provided the spark with 26 homers, 64 RBIs and 16 stolen bases. He became the Braves’ leadoff hitter after the All-Star break and became the fourth player in history to hit a leadoff homer in both games of a doublehead­er in August.

Juan Soto, OF, Nationals: At 19, he hit 22 homers, tying Bryce Harper’s rookie total in 2012. Finished with a .292 batting average and 70 RBIs.

Walker Buehler, RHP, Dodgers: If only the postseason counted. Buehler won the NL tiebreaker against the Rockies and threw seven scoreless innings against the Red Sox in the World Series. He was 8-5 with a 2.62 ERA in the regular season, with two stays on the disabled list.

AL MVP

Mookie Betts, OF, Red Sox: It’s his award to lose. Betts won the AL batting title with a .346 average, hit 32 home runs and stole 30 bases to become the first 30-30 batting champ in history.

Jose Ramirez, 3B, Indians: Betts without the batting average, Ramirez Hit 39 homers, stole 34 bases and drove in 105.

Mike Trout, OF, Angels: The best player on a sub-.500 team has won three career MVP awards but won’t add a fourth despite another stellar season: .312 with 39 homers, 24 stolen bases and a career high on-base percentage of .460.

NL MVP

Christian Yelich, OF, Brewers: Likely sealed the award with a red-hot September when he hit .352 with 10 homers and 33 RBIs. Finished with 36 homers, 110 RBIs and a league-leading .326 batting average.

Javier Baez, 2B/SS, Cubs: Led the league with 111 RBIs. Set a franchise record by becoming the first Cub to hit 30 homers, 40 doubles and steal 20 bases in one season.

Nolan Arenado, 3B, Rockies: Continues to be the best player not to win MVP. Terrific on offense and defense. Hit 39 homers to lead the league for the third straight season. Won a sixth straight Gold Glove.

AL Cy Young Award

Blake Snell, LHP, Rays: Snell led the majors and set a club record with 21 wins. He had a 1.89 ERA and struck out 221 in 180⅔ innings. He finished with nine straight wins.

Justin Verlander, RHP, Astros: The 2011 Cy Young winner couldn’t get the job done against the Red Sox in Game 5 of the ALCS, but at 35, he hasn’t slowed down since his trade to the Astros in 2017. He went 16-9 with a 2.52 ERA and led the league with 290 strikeouts.

Corey Kluber, RHP, Indians: A two-time winner of the award, Kluber had his first 20-win season and led the league in innings pitched with 215.

NL Cy Young Award

Jacob deGrom, RHP, Mets: With a 10-9 record, deGrom would become the Cy Young Award winner with the fewest victories since the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez went 13-12 in 2010. DeGrom should win the award based on his 1.70 ERA and quality starts. He held teams to three or fewer runs 29 times and had 24 straight quality starts. Both were single-season major league records.

Max Scherzer, RHP, Nationals: Has won two straight and three overall Cy Youngs but probably not this time, even though he led the majors with 220⅔ innings and 300 strikeouts. Went 18-7 with a 2.53 ERA.

Aaron Nola, RHP, Phillies: Second behind deGrom with a 2.37 ERA. Went 17-6 in his fourth major league season.

AL Manager

Bob Melvin, A’s: Melvin should be called most valuable manager. He won the NL award in 2007 with the Diamondbac­ks, and then captured the 2012 AL award with the A’s. He could make it three after leading the surprising A’s to the wild card.

Kevin Cash, Rays: The award usually goes to the manager who does the most with the least. The cost-conscious Rays traded Chris Archer, Evan Longoria, Corey Dickerson, Jake Odorizzi and Alex Colome. Cash found a way to win 90 games.

Alex Cora, Red Sox: The rookie manager who won the World Series can blame all the talent on his team for him not winning this award. Not that he’d trade the World Series for it.

NL Manager

Craig Counsell, Brewers: From fourth in the voting last year to likely first this year. He can thank Yelich.

Brian Snitker, Braves: The third-year manager propelled the Braves to the NL East title.

Bud Black, Rockies: Has two straight wild card finishes in Colorado.

 ?? JEFF GROSS / GETTY IMAGES ?? Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich (with teammate Lorenzo Cain) nearly won the Triple Crown, but he came up short on the final day of the season. He’ll likely have to console himself with the NL MVP award.
JEFF GROSS / GETTY IMAGES Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich (with teammate Lorenzo Cain) nearly won the Triple Crown, but he came up short on the final day of the season. He’ll likely have to console himself with the NL MVP award.

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