And The Winner is…

By: Kelly

Last year was the first year I was able to turn in a ballot for the IBWAA Season Awards. I didn’t do too badly and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Not a lot of no brainers this year so I had to dig a little deeper into the numbers. Starting today the IBWAA announces their winners. Here’s how I voted…

RELIEVER OF THE YEAR

American League

1. Zach Britton
2. Andrew Miller
3. Sam Dyson

The numbers Britton put up were video game like. He had one of the best seasons ever for a relief pitcher.

National League

1. Kenley Jansen
2. Mark Melancon
3. Seung-hwan Ho

Jansen was once again the glue that held the Dodgers bullpen together. He picked the right year to have a career year.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

American League

1. Terry Francona
2. Buck Showalter
3. Scott Servais

Francona had to deal without having Michael Brantley, one of their best players for most of the year. He lost Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco in September and still led the Indians to an AL Central title.

National League

1. Dave Roberts
2. Dusty Baker
3. Joe Maddon

I thought Roberts would struggle in his first year with the Dodgers. He proved me and a lot of other people wrong. Clayton Kershaw missed about 12 starts and the Dodgers didn’t miss a beat. Roberts helped them learn how to win without him and that is something he one thought was possible.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

American League

1. Michael Fulmer
2. Tyler Naquin
3. Edwin Diaz

I could have easily picked Gary Sanchez to win but he only played 53 games. Fulmer was one of the Tigers most consistent pitchers all year and had the 3^rd best ERA in the AL.

National League

1. Corey Seager
2. Kenta Maeda
3. Trea Turner

Open and shut, Seager was the easiest selection this award season. It would have been much more interesting if Story of the Rockies and Diaz of the Cardinals didn’t get hurt.

CY YOUNG

American League

1. Rick Porcello
2. Zach Britton
3. A. Happ
4. Corey Kluber
5. Chris Sale

Both Cy Young’s this year were tough. The AL was extremely tough. I left Verlander off my top 5 and he could possibly win it. I guess you can’t go wrong with Porcello, after all he did win 22 games and a 3.15 ERA for the AL East Champs.

National League

1. Kyle Hendricks
2. Jon Lester
3. Max Scherzer
4. Johnny Cueto
5. Jose Fernandez

Kershaw is the best pitcher in baseball and if he had maybe five more starts he would have won this award in a landslide but he didn’t so I couldn’t vote for him. What Hendricks did this year was amazing. Between Hendricks, Lester and Scherzer you can’t miss.

MVP

American League

1. Mike Trout
2. Jose Altuve
3. Mookie Betts
4. Manny Machado
5. Adrian Beltre
6. Josh Donaldson
7. Robinson Cano
8. David Ortiz
9. Kyle Seager
10. Francisco Lindor

Three man race here between Trout, Altuve and Betts. Every year Trout has a crazy good year but someone has a year that is comparable. Coming into this year he has played four full seasons and all of them he finished in the top 2 for MVP but only won once. He will probably get robbed again this year because the team he plays on isn’t any good. I’m done overlooking him because of the team he plays on.

National League

1. Daniel Murphy
2. Kris Bryant
3. Corey Seager
4. Anthony Rizzo
5. Freddie Freeman
6. Nolan Arenado
7. Justin Turner
8. Joey Votto
9. Paul Goldschmidt
10. Christian Yelich

This really comes down to Murphy and Bryant for me. Murphy carried the team on his back with Harper having a down year. You could easily say Rizzo is the more important player for the Cubs and that takes away from Bryant. It is close but I got Daniel Murphy as the NL MVP and the best pick up in last year’s free agent class.