ESPYs 2019: Nominees for Top Awards and Predicting the Winners

Patrick Mahomes or Mookie Betts? Nikita Kucherov or Nathan McKinnon? Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer? 

Those were just some of the options fans had to consider as they cast their votes for the 2019 ESPY Awards. They made their voices heard at ESPYs.com up until the closing of the polls on Tuesday and voted in categories such as Best Play, Best Breakthrough Athlete and Best Viral Sports Moment. 

The ESPYs, which will be hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan, will get underway at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday night and air live on ABC. 

Here, we'll break down the list of nominees in all the top categories, followed by predictions for who will go home victorious. 

Best Male Athlete

Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs

Mookie Betts, Boston Red Sox

Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks

Brooks Koepka, Golf

Prediction: Patrick Mahomes 

This category is tough to predict, because it involves balancing the weight of respective sports against the starpower of the individual athletes. 

Mookie Betts has the most impressive resume of all the nominees. The Red Sox slugger became the first player in American League history to win the World Series, a Gold Glove award, a Silver Slugger award and the AL MVP as Boston captured its ninth World Series title in 2018.

And even though the Milwaukee Bucks fell short of the NBA title, Giannis Antetokounmpo proved he's a star on a national stage. 

But it's hard to overpower the shine of the NFL's star, and for that reason, Patrick Mahomes and his record-setting MVP season may be hard to beat. To wit? The Chiefs tweeted a reminder to fans to vote that garnered more than 5,000 likes:

Best Female Athlete

David Vincent/Associated Press

Breanna Stewart, Seattle Storm

Simone Biles, Gymnast

Alex Morgan, USWNT

Mikaela Shiffrin, US Skiing

Prediction: Alex Morgan 

With three days of voting following Alex Morgan and the United States women's national team's triumph in the FIFA Women's World Cup, it's hard to imagine that the recency and enormity of Alex Morgan's accomplishment won't win her an ESPY. 

The USWNT co-captain scored a whopping five goals in the opening group game against Thailand and netted another on her birthday against England in the semifinal. She was awarded the Silver Boot for the tournament. 

Breanna Stewart, Simone Biles and Mikaela Shiffrin have all dominated their respective sports, but Morgan captured the attention of the world this summer, and it will likely reflect in the voting. 

Best Breakthrough Athlete

Gary Landers/Associated Press

Saquon Barkley, New York Giants

Christian Yelich, Milwaukee Brewers

Trae Young, Atlanta Hawks

Naomi Osaka, U.S. Open, Australian Open champion

Prediction: Christian Yelich

This might be the category in which the star power of the individual transcends the sport. Saquon Barkley, Trae Young and Naomi Osaka all burst on to the national (and international) stage with their performances, but the Brewers' Christian Yelich is on another level. 

Since Yelich arrived in Milwaukee in 2018, he's taken Major League Baseball by storm. He finished last season with 36 homers and 110 RBI, and he won the first National League batting title in Brewers history.

To top it all off, he was one vote shy of being unanimously named NL MVP. And this year, he's crushing it again, racing past 30 home runs and staking his claim for a second straight MVP award. 

Best Game

Kelvin Kuo/Associated Press

NCAAF: LSU vs. Texas A&M 

NFL Week 11: Los Angeles Rams (54) vs. Kansas City Chiefs (51) 

NCAAW Final Four: Notre Dame (81) vs. UConn (76) 

Prediction: Rams vs. Chiefs

If you're the betting type, this one is in the bag.

Not only was the Rams vs. Chiefs Monday Night Football offensive showdown the best NFL game we saw last year—better even than the Super Bowl—it was also one of the most thrilling, satisfying NFL matchups of all time. 

For more ESPYs nominees, ESPN has the complete list in every category.