Aaron Judge
New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge (99) prepares to run the bases at George M. Steinbrenner Field. [Jonathan Dyer-USA TODAY Sports]

MLB Announces Season Award Finalists

Alexander Vafeas November 12, 2024 Baseball, MLB 40 Views

Major League Baseball announced the season awards for both the American and National leagues on Monday. Each award has three finalists for both the AL and NL and are selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. MLB Award

The award winners will be announced throughout next week on MLB Network. A full list of the awards and there announcement dates can be seen below:

Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year: Monday
Manager of the Year: Tuesday
Cy Young: Wednesday, Nov. 20
Most Valuable Player: Thursday, Nov. 21

National League MVP

The NL MVP race will come down to the Mets’ Francisco Lindor and the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani. Both had exceptional seasons statistically leading their teams to postseason berths.

Lindor batted .273/.344/.500 with an .844 OPS and 33 home runs. The shortstop also posted a career best 7.8 fWAR.

Ohtani slashed a .310/.390/.646 to go along with his 9.2 bWAR and 9.1fWAR. The two-way player also founded the 50-50 club with 54 long balls and 59 stolen bases.

American League MVP

The AL MVP race is headlined by two Yankees, center fielder Aaron Judge and right fielder Juan Soto. Kansas City standout shortstop Bobby Witt jr. is also a finalist.

Judge is looking for MVP No. 2 of his career having previously won the award in 2022 after hitting 62 homers in the regular season. This year Judge is hitting .322/458/.701 with 58 homers and 144 RBIs

Soto shuffled his way on to this list in his first season as a Yankee. The lefty batted .288/.419/.569 with 41 dingers and 109 RBIs.

Witt Jr. was lights out by posting a 10.4 WAR, good for second best in the league. He also had 211 hits en route to slashing a .332/.389/.588 and became the first shortstop to have multiple 30-30 seasons.

National League Cy Young MLB Award

The NL Cy Young race has two “old reliable” pitchers in Chris Sale and Zach Wheeler and one budding superstar in Paul Skenes.

Sale had a resurgent season after escaping the White Sox. The 35-year-old won the NL triple crown leading the league in wins (18), ERA (2.38) and strikeouts (225).

Wheeler showed out with a career-best 2.57 ERA and 0.96 WHIP, which leads the NL. He also recorded 224 Ks.

Their isn’t much to say about Skenes other than the fact he had sky-high expectations coming into the season and somehow exceeded them all. The rookie was effective recording an 11-3 record with a 1.96 ERA over 23 starts and 133 innings. He also set a Pirates rookie record with 170 Ks and was the first rookie pitcher to start the All-Star Game in 29 years.

American League Cy Young MLB Award

The AL Cy Young race features three lesser known names from three wildcard/divisional teams in the Guardians’ Emmanuel Clase, Royals’ Seth Lugo and the Tigers’ Tarik Skubal.

Clase was named to this list as a reliver, something which is a feat in itself. The Guardian notched 42 saves while allowing only five earned runs in 74.1 innings. He boasted a 0.62 ERA to show for hit efforts.

Lugo carried a 3.00 ERA with 181 punchouts and a 1.089 WHIP. The righty was named to his first All-Star Game in 2024.

Skubal was lights out this season, guiding Detroit to their first playoff appearance in 10 years. Skubal carried a 2.39 ERA, a 6.3 WAR, a 0.988 WHIP and 228 Ks. He also won 18 games in 192 innings pitched.

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About Alexander Vafeas

Alexander Vafeas is a third-year Sports Journalism student at the University of Florida who currently serves as one of WRUF's NFL beat writers.

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