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MLB Postseason Awards & Postseason Predictions

     Baseball season is over and the evil force that is the NFL has taken over.  It’s been a fantastic year for baseball fans as a new crop of young players have delivered some of the best years of their young careers in the 2017 season.  Three teams won one hundred games this year.  One of those teams, the Cleveland Indians, won twenty-two games in a row, setting an American League record.  Overall, this is the most fun I’ve had watching baseball in all my years as a fan.  The following is who I think should win the various awards and who I think will win the World Series.
     The American League Rookie of the Year Award will be an easy choice for voters.  Aaron Judge, the right fielder for the New York Yankees has had the greatest rookie year in baseball history.  Judge hit 52 home runs setting a new record for home runs by a rookie and had 114 RBIs.  Judge is also the only rookie with at least 45 home runs, 100 RBIs, and 100 runs scored in a single season.  Judge also led the league in batting average for the first half of the year, but his average dropped due to a slump in the months of July and August.  Despite this, Judge will probably be the unanimous choice for A.L. Rookie of the Year.
      American League Rookie of the Year Winner:  Aaron Judge
     The National League will once again be an easy choice for voters.  Cody Bellinger, an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, will also win this award unanimously just like Aaron Judge.  Bellinger hit 39 home runs breaking the record for home runs hit by a National League rookie and had 96 RBIs.
      National League Rookie of the Year Winner:  Cody Bellinger
     The American League Cy Young Award race is pretty much down to two men.  Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians and Chris Sale of the Boston Red Sox.  Sale looked like he would run away with the award for the first half of the year, but Kluber caught up to him.  Sale led all of Major League Baseball with 308 strikeouts.  He also had a win-loss record of 17-8 with an ERA of 2.90.
     Corey Kluber, on the other, hand had a win-loss record of 18-4 with an ERA of 2.25 and 265 strikeouts.  Kluber was flat out unhittable this season and he was a key part of Cleveland’s winning streak.
     American League Cy Young Winner:  Corey Kluber
     The National League Cy Young Award is pretty much a three-man race between Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals, who is going for his third Cy Young, Scherzer’s teammate Stephen Strasburg, and Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who is going for his fourth Cy Young. If he wins his fourth Cy Young, Kershaw will join Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson as the only men to win four or more Cy Youngs.  While Strasburg had a good year, he wasn’t nearly as dominant on the mound as the other two.  Scherzer and Kershaw both missed time due to injuries this year, but it’s pretty clear which one of the two was the better pitcher.  Kershaw’s ERA was only 2.31, he won 18 games, lost only 4, and struck out 202 batters in only 175 innings pitched.  Max Scherzer’s ERA was 2.51 with a record of 16-6.   He struck out 268 batters in 200 innings pitched.  Although Scherzer pitched 25 more innings than Kershaw, Kershaw was more effective when he was on the mound. 
     National League Cy Young Award Winner:  Clayton Kershaw
     The American League MVP Award voting will be awfully close this year.  Jose Altuve, the second baseman for the Houston Astros, and Aaron Judge are the two frontrunners. This would have been a three-man race, but Mike Trout missed a whole month of the season.  As stated before, Judge has had the greatest rookie season of all time and he has the potential to join Fred Lynn as the only two players to win both the Rookie of the Year and MVP awards in the same season.  However, his slump in July and August where he set the Major League record for strikeouts in consecutive games with 37 may have hurt him in the voting, but his strong finish in September may be his saving grace.  Jose Altuve, on the other hand, has been one of the most consistently dominant players in baseball.  Altuve won his third American League Batting Championship by batting .346.  He hit 24 home runs and drove in 81 RBIs.  Unlike Judge, Altuve never had a slump during the season.  In my opinion, this high level of consistency makes him the clear choice for American League MVP.
     American League MVP Award Winner:  Jose Altuve
     The race for the National League MVP Award is a different story.  This is the most exciting award race in all of baseball.  It will also be the most difficult one for voters as at least a half dozen players have had MVP worthy seasons.  The voters could choose any of these guys and they’d get no argument from me.  Giancarlo Stanton, right-fielder for the Miami Marlins had a monster season with 59 home runs and 132 RBIs.  Joey Votto, first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds had 36 home runs, 100 RBIs, led the league with 134 walks and on-base percentage of .454.  Votto also only struck out 83 times.  Votto is the best pure hitter in all of baseball.  He’s an absolute hitting genius.  However, the Cincinnati Reds are not a very good team and that tends to hurt players in MVP voting.  Paul Goldschmidt, first baseman for the Arizona Diamondbacks hit .297 with 36 home runs and 120 RBIs.  Anthony Rendon, third baseman for the Washington Nationals hit .301 with 25 home runs and 100 RBIs.  Nolan Arenado, third baseman for the Colorado Rockies hit .309 with 37 home runs and 130 RBIs.  His defense at third base is also outstanding.  Charlie Blackmon, center-fielder for the Colorado Rockies hit .331, which led the National League and hit 37 home runs with 104 RBIs.  What makes his RBI total impressive is the fact that Blackmon hits from the leadoff spot.  However, Blackmon is not nearly as good away from the hitter friendly Coors Field.
     National League MVP Award Winner: Joey Votto
     Predicting the World Series winner will be tough, but I am going to have to go with the Cleveland Indians.  They won 22 games in a row this year and have an excellent offense, a fantastic rotation, and a dominant bullpen.  They also nearly won the World Series last year.  However, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Chicago Cubs, or the Houston Astros could also win the World Series.  Either way I’m predicting that this World Series will go down to the wire and will be decided in seven games.
     World Series Winner:  Cleveland Indians 
  

      
              





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