Bleacher Report's Full Year-End MLB Awards Picks with 1 Month to Go
It's been a great summer for Missouri baseball.
The St. Louis Cardinals have overcome every injury and every super Chicago Cubs rookie thrown their way, have dominated what seems to be baseball's toughest division and look headed for the first 100-win season since the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies.
The Kansas City Royals have dropped the word "surprising" from their name and replaced it with "powerhouse." They have the American League's best record, and any day now they're going to clinch their first division title since 1985.
We salute the Cardinals and Royals here...because we're about to leave them both out.
Sorry about that, Missouri, but look at it as a compliment. Your teams are so good—emphasis on teams—that no single player stood out enough to win one of Bleacher Report's 2015 end-of-season-with-one-month-left awards. And your teams are so good that while both Mike Matheny and Ned Yost have done fine jobs, other managers faced bigger challenges this season.
We hope you don't take offense and at least remember that when the playoffs begin next month, the rest of the country will have no choice but to pay attention to you.
But enough about you, because it's time to look at who holds the lead as we head down the stretch for Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year.
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Matt Harvey, New York Mets
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All the talk about innings limits and shutdowns has obscured the brilliance of Matt Harvey's comeback from Tommy John surgery.
The common wisdom had been that while the surgery is usually successful, it takes a while for a pitcher to get back to where he was before he got hurt. The first year can be a struggle, and the command may not be there.
Harvey did have one bad four-game stretch in late May and early June, and he had a bad game Tuesday night, after four days of innings-limit angst. In between, though, Harvey had a 1.66 ERA in 13 starts.
If anything, he's been too good, because by averaging nearly seven innings per start, he has brought the innings-limit issue into play now.
The Mets are still figuring out how much they can use Harvey the rest of the way. For the purposes of this award, though, he's already done more than enough.
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees
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Normally, we'd take a guy coming back from injury rather than one returning from a self-inflicted wound. But how do you ignore the A-Rod turnaround?
He came to spring training without a guaranteed job and with an organization that seemed to wish he would just go away. Even after he showed in the spring that he could still play, he batted seventh on Opening Day.
Now Alex Rodriguez hits in the middle of the lineup for a team headed for the playoffs that will hold a ceremony Sunday to honor him for his 3,000th hit.
Rodriguez has made a dramatic comeback—not just from the 2014 season he lost to a drug suspension, but from the 2012 and '13 seasons when it looked like his body would break down. He homered just 41 times from 2011 to 2014. Now he has 30 this year, tying him with Hank Aaron for the most 30-homer seasons (15).
He's more productive. He's less disruptive.
You're still welcome to hate him, if you choose. But you can't deny he has made quite a comeback.
NL Rookie of the Year: Kris Bryant, Chicago Cubs
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It's been a great year for rookies, but nobody in the National League has been better than the guy who was the talk of spring training.
Remember Kris Bryant's nine home runs in 40 at-bats in the Cactus League and the complaints when the Cubs still insisted that he begin the season in the minor leagues? Well, Bryant hasn't matched that pace since his April 17 debut, but he and fellow rookie Kyle Schwarber have been in the middle of the turnaround in fortunes for one of baseball's most interesting teams.
Bryant is hardly a slam-dunk winner. San Francisco Giants third baseman Matt Duffy also became a middle-of-the-order hitter for a playoff contender, and St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Randal Grichuk has a .905 OPS. Pittsburgh Pirates shortstop Jung Ho Kang has been a big contributor to another top team.
The choice here is Bryant, but this really is a race to watch over the final month.
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AL Rookie of the Year: Carlos Correa, Houston Astros
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He was the best shortstop in the American League basically from the moment the Astros called him up June 8. He might be the player you'd most like to build your team around.
He's Derek Jeter with more power or Alex Rodriguez with less baggage.
Carlos Correa is 20 years old (for another two weeks), and he's the AL Rookie of the Year. But there is some competition.
Francisco Lindor, the Cleveland Indians' 21-year-old shortstop, hit .370 in August. Miguel Sano, the Minnesota Twins' 22-year-old designated hitter, has basically the same OPS as Josh Donaldson (.960-plus), who might be the AL's Most Valuable Player.
We took Correa at midseason, when he'd only been in the big leagues for a month. We're absolutely sticking with him now.
NL Manager of the Year: Joe Maddon, Chicago Cubs
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Cubs executives have been telling their friends around the game that as good as they thought Joe Maddon was when they hired him last winter, he's proved to be even better than that.
Terry Collins has done an outstanding job with the New York Mets. Mike Matheny has kept the St. Louis Cardinals going no matter how many big players got hurt, and Clint Hurdle has done another fantastic job with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
But Maddon has been the big-money free agent who immediately delivers. He's the face of the Cubs' turnaround, and he's the NL Manager of the Year.
AL Manager of the Year: A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros
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A.J. Hinch was the perfect choice to manage a talented team with an analytics-first front office, and he has kept the Astros in first place virtually all season in the American League West. He can talk numbers with numbers people and baseball with baseball people, and he's proving he can really manage.
Jeff Banister deserves credit for what he's doing in his first season with the Texas Rangers. Ned Yost is proving that he's a better manager with the Kansas City Royals than many of us ever gave him credit for being.
With a month to go, though, Hinch's Astros are still out in front. And so is he.
NL Cy Young: Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers
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We're siding with ESPN.com's Jayson Stark on this one. Zack Greinke wins the Cy Young, and at this point it's not even that tough a call.
Seriously, have you checked out the list of ERA leaders?
No, the Cy Young doesn't automatically go to the guy with the best ERA, but it should go to a guy who almost never allows a run. As Stark wrote, for all the talk about batting average on balls in play and FIP (which favor teammate Clayton Kershaw over Greinke), the Cy Young is about what happened, not what possibly should have happened.
Kershaw is having another great year. Jake Arrieta has been outstanding with the Chicago Cubs.
But Greinke's 1.68 ERA ranks fourth among qualifying starters over the last 47 years. The two guys ahead of him—Dwight Gooden in 1985 and Greg Maddux in both 1994 and 1995—won the Cy Young and won it unanimously.
Greinke's win probably won't be unanimous. But he should win.
AL Cy Young: Dallas Keuchel, Houston Astros
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This is one to watch, because if David Price keeps doing what he has since the July 30 trade to the Toronto Blue Jays (5-1, 2.15 ERA in seven starts), he could end up winning the Cy Young in the American League. Sonny Gray of the Oakland A's, who faced Dallas Keuchel's Astros on Tuesday night, is still in it too.
For now, we'll stick with Keuchel, who leads the league in most categories and has shown no signs of slowing down (2.17 ERA in seven starts since Aug. 1).
Keuchel's home-road splits are still a little baffling (13-0, 1.49 ERA at home; 4-6, 3.35 on the road), but in his most recent start away from Houston, he went seven shutout innings at Yankee Stadium, allowing just three hits.
NL Most Valuable Player: Bryce Harper, Washington Nationals
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Every now and then, there's a reminder Bryce Harper is still just 22 years old. No, Bryce, it's not a good idea to use the word "brutal" when discussing your team's fans.
But in a season that is quickly becoming "brutal" for the Washington Nationals, Harper is still doing things that remind people of Barry Bonds, Miguel Cabrera and Ted Williams.
A collapsing team can harm an MVP candidacy. Jacoby Ellsbury hit .358 in September 2011, but when the Boston Red Sox crashed around him, he lost any chance of finishing ahead of Justin Verlander.
Harper should be different, and not just because the Nationals' crash has been much less dramatic. What he's doing is historic, and none of the other MVP candidates (Paul Goldschmidt, Joey Votto) can say the same.
AL Most Valuable Player: Josh Donaldson, Toronto Blue Jays
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The numbers are close between Toronto's Josh Donaldson and Los Angeles' Mike Trout, but the MVP is about more than just numbers. Context matters, and while Donaldson was key to the Blue Jays' run to the top of the American League East, Trout's poor August (.689 OPS) came as his team stumbled out of a playoff spot in the AL West.
The Angels could still get to the playoffs, and Trout could still pass Donaldson with a great final few weeks.
For now, though, the Blue Jays are the story. And for all the talk of their July trades for Troy Tulowitzki and David Price, the guy they traded for last November is the AL MVP.
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