Rookie of the Year (Astros’ Yordan Alvarez for the AL and Mets’ Pete Alonso for the NL) and Manager of the Year (Twins’ Rocco Baldelli for the AL and Cardinals’ Mike Shildt for the NL) Awards have already been handed out, but the biggest two honors will be awarded over the next two nights. Which players should take home the 2019 MVP and Cy Young in the American League and National League?
American League
MVP: Mike Trout, Angels
Mike Trout appeared to be a near lock for AL MVP until his season-ending foot injury, which created an opening for Houston’s Alex Bregman to make a push. Bregman had more games to make his case, and he was very valuable for the Astros while playing multiple positions defensively to help cover for injuries—but it’s difficult to say he should get the award over Trout. The Angels star still had more home runs (45) than Bregman with nearly 100 fewer at bats, and he led the American League in OPS by a large margin. Throw in Trout’s baserunning and defense, and the best player in baseball should get his third AL MVP.
Cy Young: Gerrit Cole, Astros
If there was a time to split an award, the 2019 AL Cy Young would be it. Both Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole are both very deserving of the honor, and they had numbers that are way too close to even decide which Astros ace had the better season statistically.
Gerrit Cole: 20-5, 2.50 ERA, 326 SO
Justin Verlander: 21-6, 2.58 ERA, 300 SO
Verlander has the no-hitter going for him, and he had a lower WHIP (0.80 compared to Cole’s 0.89). (Verlander also had a better WAR if you’re into that.) But with the award this close, I lean slightly toward Cole because of the better winning percentage, ERA, and strikeout numbers. Cole’s second half was stupid good, and it could put him over the top for his first Cy Young Award ahead of free agency.
National League
MVP: Cody Bellinger, Dodgers
This is a similar situation to the AL MVP Award, as Christian Yelich appeared to be in the lead before his season-ending leg injury. However, Yelich might have been hurt in the minds of the voters when the Brewers went on a run to the postseason without him—in a race this close, it certainly could have had a big impact. Yelich led the majors in OPS (1.100), edging out Trout, and he made a difference on the base paths with 30 stolen bases. But Bellinger was a machine with 121 runs scored and 115 RBI, along with a Gold Glove for his play in the outfield on the top team in the National League.
Cy Young: Jacob deGrom, Mets
The NL Cy Young Award has three strong candidates in Hyun-Jin Ryu, Jacob deGrom, and Max Scherzer, but there were no extraordinary years among the three—Ryu led the group with 14 wins and a 2.32 ERA, but his late-season performance after coming off the Injured List likely cost him the award, as he might not have been 100% while giving up 21 runs in a four-game stretch. And Scherzer dealt with injury issues of his own, hurting his chances of winning another Cy Young. deGrom looks like the best candidate, as he led the trio in innings (204.0), strikeouts (255), and WHIP (0.97) while having a splendid 2.43 ERA and a better record (11-8) than his Cy Young campaign last season. If deGrom does get the honor again, it will have been his stretch of eight consecutive consistent seven-inning performances (exactly 7.0 innings every outing) that sealed it.
There’s also the fact that Bregman gets the pitches tipped to him. Astros are a joke.
Cole was robbed.