NEW YORK — Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani and Yordan Alvarez are the finalists for the American League Most Valuable Player award in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA).
Nolan Arenado and Paul Goldschmidt, teammates on the St. Louis Cardinals, continue to compete for the award in the National League, along with Dominican Manny Machado, third baseman for the San Diego Padres.
The BBWAA also revealed its shortlist for the Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards on Monday night. Voting took place at the end of the regular campaign.
Justin Verlander, of the champion Houston Astros, is the big favorite to win the Cy Young for the third time. The 39-year-old ace went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA this season after an amazing recovery from Tommy John surgery.
Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox and Alek Manoah of the Toronto Blue Jays are the other Cy Young finalists.
Dominican Sandy Alcántara, Miami ace; left-hander Max Fried, from Atlanta, and Mexican left-hander Julio Urías, from the Los Angeles Dodgers, were the three most voted for the Cy Young in the National League.
Judge broke the American League record by hitting 62 homers for the season. He shared atop the majors with 131 RBIs and was second in the NL with a .311 average.
He also led the majors in runs (133), on-base percentage (.425), slugging percentage (.686), OPS (1,111), extra-base hits (90), and total bases (391) in helping the New York Yankees win the Eastern Division. .
The outfielder declared himself a free agent on Sunday.
Ohtani, last year’s MVP, had perhaps the best season at bat and on the mound in major league history for a Los Angeles Angels who had another poor season — third in their division with a record of 73. 89.
The Japanese star went 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA and 219 strikeouts in 28 starts that totaled 166 innings. In the batter’s box, he hit .273 with 34 homers, 95 RBIs and an .875 OPS.
Álvarez, the Cuban slugger from Houston who hit the go-ahead homer in the deciding game of the World Series this weekend, hit .306 with 37 homers, 97 RBIs and a 1,019 OPS in the regular season.
Seattle center fielder Julio Rodriguez is expected to win the crowded AL Rookie of the Year race, which also includes Cleveland left fielder Steven Kwan and Baltimore receiver Adley Rutschman.
The main absentee among these finalists was Houston shortstop Jeremy Peña, who shone in the postseason after a strong regular season.
Peña, who won a Gold Glove last week, was the MVP of the World Series against Philadelphia and the American League Championship Series against the Yankees. Never before has a batter earned all three of those awards in his career, according to OptaSTATS.
And Peña did it in his rookie season.
Cardinals all-around player Brendan Donovan joined Atlanta center fielder Michael Harris II and Braves pitcher Spencer Strider among the three finalists for NL Rookie of the Year.
The finalists for AL Manager of the Year are Cleveland’s Terry Francona, Baltimore’s Brandon Hyde and Seattle’s Scott Servais.
In the National, the shortlist is made up of Dave Roberts, of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who won 111 games; Buck Showalter, in his first year with the New York Mets, and Brian Snitker, of the Braves, champions of the National East.
The winners of each award on each circuit will be announced next week, beginning each day at 6 pm ET on MLB Network:
Monday, November 14: Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards
Tuesday, November 15: Manager of the Year
Wednesday, November 16: Cy Young Awards
Thursday, November 17: MVP Awards
Here are the three finalists for each award in the American League and National League:
Yordan Alvarez, DH/LF, Astros
Aaron Judge, RF, Yankees
Shohei Ohtani, RHP/DH, Angels
Nolan Arenado, 3B, Cardinals
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Cardinals
Manny Machado, 3B, Padres
Sandy Alcantara, RHP, Marlins
Max Fried, LHP, Braves
Julio Urias, LHP, Dodgers
Manager of the Year, American League
Terry Francona, Guardians
Brandon Hyde, Orioles
Scott Servais, Mariners
Dave Roberts, Dodgers
Brian Snitker, Braves
Buck Showalter, Mets
Steven Kwan, LF, Guardians
Julio Rodriguez, CF, Mariners
Adley Rutschman, C, Orioles
Dylan Cease, RHP, White Sox
Alek Manoah, RHP, Blue Jays
Justin Verlander, RHP, Astros
Brendan Donovan, UTIL, Cardinals
Michael Harris II, CF, Braves
Spencer Strider, RHP, Braves
We would like to give thanks to the author of this write-up for this amazing web content
See the finalists for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie and Manager of the Year