The 2018 Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close and the postseason has started. Hitters struck out at a record pace and new trends like bull penning were introduced. New stars like Shohei Ohtani and Miguel Andujar made a splash. Christian Yelich and Javier Baez had breakout seasons. Even Chris Davis got in on the action by having the worst season in the history of baseball. The big questions now are who wins the most coveted awards in baseball and which team will win the World Series? These are my choices for who should win these awards (just because I think these players should doesn't mean they will...even though they should).
National League Awards
Cy Young Award Candidates:
Washington Nationals Max Scherzer: 18-7, 300 Ks, 2.53 ERA
Philadelphia Phillies Aaron Nola: 17-6, 224 Ks, 2.37 ERA
Colorado Rockies Kyle Freelander: 17-7, 173 Ks, 2.85 ERA
Milwaukee Brewers Josh Hader: 6-1, 143 Ks, 2.43 ERA, 12 Saves
Milwaukee Brewers Josh Hader: 6-1, 143 Ks, 2.43 ERA, 12 Saves
New York Mets Jacob deGrom: 10-9, 269 Ks, 1.70 ERA
All of these pitchers had phenomenal years for various reasons. Max Scherzer set a new personal best for strikeouts with 300 and Aaron Nola had a breakout season as the ace of the Phillies' pitching staff. Kyle Freeland in my opinion had a very underrated season as he was able to maintain a sub-3.00 ERA in the hitter friendly Coors Field. Freeland's home ERA at Coors Field was an astounding 2.40. In my opinion this qualifies Kyle Freeland's 2018 season as the best pitching performance in the history of the Colorado Rockies franchise.
Josh Hader had one of the best seasons by a relief pitcher in MLB history as he was backbone of the Brewer's bullpen in his role as a super reliever. Hader recorded 143 strikeouts in just 81 innings pitched. Left-handers hit only .090 against Hader. Righties didn't do much better as they posted a .153 average against him. It was also nearly impossible to get a hit against Hader in a two strike count as hitters had a .056 average against him. However, Hader struggled in the second half as he posted a 3.78 ERA during that period, which dashed his slight chances of wining the Cy Young.
Jacob deGrom's season was downright tragic. He had one of the greatest years in modern MLB history. deGrom pitched pitched 23 games where he allowed 3 or fewer runs, breaking a 108 year old Major League record. Unfortunately for deGrom, he was pitching for the hapless New York Mets. This team had such an atrocious offense that it looked to be a serious possibility that deGrom would have a losing record as the season entered it's final weeks. The only thing more remarkable than deGrom's streak was that he didn't bludgeon one of his teammates to death with a bat for failing to give him any run support. During deGrom's legendary streak, the Mets were 9-17. On the other hand, Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox had a record of 17-7 with a 4.28 ERA. Had deGrom pitched for the Red Sox, he would've won 25 games. deGrom's 2018 season has shown that the win statistic is woefully outdated and should be abolished.
Josh Hader had one of the best seasons by a relief pitcher in MLB history as he was backbone of the Brewer's bullpen in his role as a super reliever. Hader recorded 143 strikeouts in just 81 innings pitched. Left-handers hit only .090 against Hader. Righties didn't do much better as they posted a .153 average against him. It was also nearly impossible to get a hit against Hader in a two strike count as hitters had a .056 average against him. However, Hader struggled in the second half as he posted a 3.78 ERA during that period, which dashed his slight chances of wining the Cy Young.
Jacob deGrom's season was downright tragic. He had one of the greatest years in modern MLB history. deGrom pitched pitched 23 games where he allowed 3 or fewer runs, breaking a 108 year old Major League record. Unfortunately for deGrom, he was pitching for the hapless New York Mets. This team had such an atrocious offense that it looked to be a serious possibility that deGrom would have a losing record as the season entered it's final weeks. The only thing more remarkable than deGrom's streak was that he didn't bludgeon one of his teammates to death with a bat for failing to give him any run support. During deGrom's legendary streak, the Mets were 9-17. On the other hand, Rick Porcello of the Boston Red Sox had a record of 17-7 with a 4.28 ERA. Had deGrom pitched for the Red Sox, he would've won 25 games. deGrom's 2018 season has shown that the win statistic is woefully outdated and should be abolished.
Winner: Jacob deGrom
Most Valuable Player Award Candidates:
Milwaukee Brewers OF Christian Yelich: .326, 36 HR, 110 RBIs
Colorado Rockies 3B Nolan Arenado: .297, 37 HR, 110 RBIs
Colorado Rockies SS Trevor Story: .291, 37 HR, 108 RBIs
Chicago Cubs 2B Javier Baez: .290, 34 HR, 111 RBIs
New York Mets Jacob deGrom: 10-9, 269 Ks, 1.70 ERA
The National League MVP race was like a clown car. However, only one player can be in the driver's seat. Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story had excellent seasons for the Colorado Rockies. Arenado will surely win another Gold Glove Award for his defensive wizardry at third base, but the fact the Arenado and Story play in the hitter friendly Coors Field means they'll never get a serious shot at winning the MVP. Arenado has also had better seasons previously and there were players that were better than Story this year. Jacob deGrom could get a few MVP votes because of his record breaking season, but the fact he played for such a horrendous team means he won't win the MVP. I also think pitchers should only get the MVP if there is a lack of a dominant position player and there were several dominant position players this year.
The NL MVP race comes down to Javier Baez and Christian Yelich. Baez posted career highs in batting average, home runs, and RBIs (he also led the league in that category albeit barely). Baez also stole 21 bases. However, a weakness of Baez is his low on-base percentage of .326 due to his lack of an ability to draw a walk. Christian Yelich like Javier Baez also had a breakout year. Yelich also posted career highs in batting average, home runs, RBIs, and stolen bases. Unlike Baez, Yelich posted a .400 on-base percentage. In fact, led the league in slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, and won the National League Batting Title with a batting average of .326. Yelich truly broke out as the National League Central Division race between the Cubs and the Brewers came down to the wire. This also meant the National League MVP race came down to the wire. Yelich hit .545 in the last seven days of the season and was the key factor in Milwaukee's march to the postseason. Game 163 proved to not just be the deciding game in the NL Central race, but the deciding game in the NL MVP race between Javier Baez and Christian Yelich. Yelich went three for four with one RBI, while Baez only went one for four. Yelich came into that game with the edge in the MVP race and it was unto Baezto take if from him. However, Christian Yelich proved to be to be the superior player.
Winner: Christian Yelich
American League Awards
Cy Young Award:
Tampa Bay Rays Blake Snell: 21-5, 221 Ks, 1.89 ERA
Cleveland Indians Corey Kluber: 20-7, 222 Ks, 2.89 ERA
Oakland Athletics Blake Treinen: 38 Saves, 100 Ks, 0.78 ERA
Houston Astros Justin Verlander: 16-9, 290 Ks, 2.52 ERA
The AL Cy Young Award features some new faces along with some wily veterans that haven't lost a step. Corey Kluber anchored the Cleveland Indians rotation once again and won twenty games for the first time in his career. Justin Verlander continued his career renaissance in Houston as he posted his lowest season ERA since 2012 and posted an amazing career high of 290 strikeouts in his age 35 season. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the beginning of a Randy Johnson circa 1998-2002 run for Justin Verlander. If this season is any indication Verlander is only getting better with age. Blake Treinen had an interesting season has the closer for the Oakland A's. He was a highly touted relief pitcher for Washington Nationals that never quite reached his full potential as he was somewhat inconsistent. Treinen improved by leaps and bounds with the A's and proved to be one of the most dominant closers in baseball during the 2018 season. However, I firmly believe that the only time a closer should be given the Cy Young Award is when there is a lack of a dominant starter and there were several dominant starters in the American League. That brings us to Blake Snell out in Tampa Bay. I don't think there has been a pitcher in recent memory that has progressed as quickly as he has. Snell finished the year with an ERA under 2.00 in a division where he was pitching against offensive powerhouses like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, Snell may not get the Cy Young due to the fact that the Rays didn't make the playoffs. However, there should be no doubt who the best pitcher in the American League was this year.
Winner: Blake Snell
The AL Cy Young Award features some new faces along with some wily veterans that haven't lost a step. Corey Kluber anchored the Cleveland Indians rotation once again and won twenty games for the first time in his career. Justin Verlander continued his career renaissance in Houston as he posted his lowest season ERA since 2012 and posted an amazing career high of 290 strikeouts in his age 35 season. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the beginning of a Randy Johnson circa 1998-2002 run for Justin Verlander. If this season is any indication Verlander is only getting better with age. Blake Treinen had an interesting season has the closer for the Oakland A's. He was a highly touted relief pitcher for Washington Nationals that never quite reached his full potential as he was somewhat inconsistent. Treinen improved by leaps and bounds with the A's and proved to be one of the most dominant closers in baseball during the 2018 season. However, I firmly believe that the only time a closer should be given the Cy Young Award is when there is a lack of a dominant starter and there were several dominant starters in the American League. That brings us to Blake Snell out in Tampa Bay. I don't think there has been a pitcher in recent memory that has progressed as quickly as he has. Snell finished the year with an ERA under 2.00 in a division where he was pitching against offensive powerhouses like the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Unfortunately, Snell may not get the Cy Young due to the fact that the Rays didn't make the playoffs. However, there should be no doubt who the best pitcher in the American League was this year.
Winner: Blake Snell
Most Valuable Player Award:
Los Angeles Angels OF Mike Trout: .312, 39 HR, 79 RBIs
Boston Red Sox OF/DH J.D. Martinez: .330, 43 HR, 130 RBIs
Boston Red Sox OF Mookie Betts: .346, 32 HR, 80 RBIs
Houston Astros 3B Alex Bregman: .286, 31 HR, 103 RBIs
The AL MVP race was just as crowded as the NL MVP race, but the AL race is harder to predict because no one player truly had the edge that Christian Yelich did. Mike Trout was dominant as usual and led the league in on-base percentage, but his RBI total was pretty low for a guy with 39 homers. Alex Bregman had a truly remarkable season and would be a shoe-in for the MVP in any other season. He hit 51 doubles in addition to his 31 home runs, and drove in 100 runs. He also increased his walk rate from 55 in 2017 to a staggering 96 walks in 2018.
However, the AL MVP race comes down to Mookie Betts and J.D. Martinez. These two teammates were one of the big reasons why the Red Sox were able to win 108 games. J.D. Martinez in particular was vital to this as he has made everyone around him better and provided a powerful bat in the lineup that the Red Sox had been missing since the retirement of David Ortiz. Mookie Betts had a bounce back season after a below average 2017 season. Betts led the American League in batting average and had a 30-30 season with 32 home runs and 30 stolen bases. Betts is also a stellar fielder and will surely win his third career Gold Glove. If other one of these four players were chosen to be MVP, you would get no argument from me. In fact, it wouldn't surprise e if we have co-MVPs in the American League this year. However, in my opinion Mookie Betts has proven himself to be the best player in the American League.
Winner: Mookie Betts
World Series Winner
The 2018 MLB season featured teams that were either all or nothing in terms of on-field performance. Over half the league deliberately tanked in order to receive higher draft picks (an unproven method of winning). Teams that were in a good position to win capitalized on this and as a result there were three teams that finished with 100 wins this year. However, the 2018 season wasn't that predictable as the Oakland A's and the Milwaukee Brewers were able to make the postseason despite the fact that neither team was predicted to do much. Because there were so many teams that won over 100 games, it's hard to predict who will win the World Series. I think that it will probably come down to the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox in the American League and the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers in the American League. I'll be bold and predict that the 2018 World Series will once again come down to the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers. As much as I find the Brewers inspiring, I also have to be realistic and acknowledge the fact that they lack a truly dominant starting rotation that can pitch deep into the postseason. I chose Houston over Boston larger because I think Houston has the better starting rotation and a more experience offense. I think the 2018 World Series will play out just like the the 2017 World Series and will go to a game 7. The Houston Astros will repeat as World Series Champions. Their team has a smart front office that uses a unique mix of analytics and gut instinct to manage the team and I think that will result in a second World Series.
Winner: Houston Astros
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