MLB Gold Glove Finalists 2016: Full List of Nominees, Comments and Reaction

The Chicago Cubs and the Cleveland Indians are battling for baseball's ultimate team prize, the World Series, but Rawlings Sports announced the finalists for some of the most coveted individual awards of the 2016 season Thursday. 

Here is a look at the full list of Gold Glove finalists, per Rawlings Sports' Twitter page:

Position	Player	Player	Player
Pitcher	Jake Arrieta, Chicago Cubs	Zack Greinke, Arizona Diamondbacks	Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals
Catcher	Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants	Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals	Jonathan Lucroy, Texas Rangers/Milwaukee Brewers
First Base	Anthony Rizzo, Chicago Cubs	Paul Goldschmidt, Arizona Diamondbacks	Wil Myers, San Diego Padres
Second Base	DJ LeMahieu, Colorado Rockies	Joe Panik, San Francisco Giants	Jean Segura, Arizona Diamondbacks
Shortstop	Freddy Galvis, Philadelphia Phillies	Addison Russell, Chicago Cubs	Brandon Crawford, San Francisco Giants
Third Base	Nolan Arenado, Colorado Rockies	Justin Turner, Los Angeles Dodgers	Anthony Rendon, Washington Nationals
Left Field	Christian Yelich, Miami Marlins	Adam Duvall, Cincinnati Reds	Starling Marte, Pittsburgh Pirates
Center Field	Billy Hamilton, Cincinnati Reds	Odubel Herrera, Philadelphia Phillies	Ender Inciarte, Atlanta Braves
Right Field	Nick Markakis, Atlanta Braves	Jason Heyward, Chicago Cubs	Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies

Position	Player	Player	Player
Pitcher	Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers	R.A. Dickey, Toronto Blue Jays	Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros
Catcher	Carlos Perez, Los Angeles Angels	Salvador Perez, Kansas City Royals	James McCann, Detroit Tigers
First Base	Chris Davis, Baltimore Orioles	Eric Hosmer, Kansas City Royals	Mitch Moreland, Texas Rangers
Second Base	Robinson Cano, Seattle Mariners	Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox	Ian Kinsler, Detroit Tigers
Shortstop	Jose Iglesias, Detroit Tigers	Francisco Lindor, Cleveland Indians	Andrelton Simmons, Los Angeles Angels
Third Base	Manny Machado, Baltimore Orioles	Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners	Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers
Left Field	Brett Gardner, New York Yankees	Alex Gordon, Kansas City Royals	Colby Rasmus, Houston Astros
Center Field	Jackie Bradley Jr., Boston Red Sox	Kevin Pillar, Toronto Blue Jays	Kevin Kiermaier, Tampa Bay Rays
Right Field	Adam Eaton, Chicago White Sox	Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox	George Springer, Houston Astros

Rawlings Sports noted the winners will be announced on Nov. 8 during ESPN's Baseball Tonight.

The list of finalists underscores just how important run prevention is to winning games. The Cubs are in the World Series for a number of reasons, but their league-best defense certainly helped them win an MLB-best 103 games this season.

They have four finalists in pitcher Jake Arrieta, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, shortstop Addison Russell and right fielder Jason Heyward, and the team led all of baseball with 82 total defensive runs saved above average, per FanGraphs.

What's more, it was a massive gap between Chicago and the rest of the league. The Houston Astros checked in at second place at an impressive 51 total defensive runs saved above average. Still, the difference between the Cubs and second-place Houston (31) was bigger than the one between second-place Houston and eighth-place Toronto Blue Jays (23).

Ninth-place Cleveland (17 total defensive runs saved above average) counts a Gold Glove finalist at a critical position with shortstop Francisco Lindor. Watching him flash the leather against his counterpart, Russell, in the World Series is a treat for defense-oriented baseball fans.  

Elsewhere, the Boston Red Sox have three finalists, with second baseman Dustin Pedroia and outfielders Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mookie Betts. They won the American League East behind the impressive group.  

The Astros had three finalists as well, with pitcher Dallas Keuchel and outfielders Colby Rasmus and George Springer.