2020 MLB Postseason Awards
Last year, two Mets won major awards — Jacob deGrom and Pete Alonso taking Cy Young and Rookie of the Year, respectively. No such luck this year, but here are my picks for the 2020 postseason awards, anyway. By the way, these picks represent the way I voted for the IBWAA awards.
NL MVP
Marcel Ozuna is my pick here, but Freddie Freeman will probably win. I think Ozuna had slightly better numbers — 18 home runs, 56 RBIs (which both led the league) and a .338 batting average. Freeman was 13/53/.341. But Ozuna will likely unfairly be penalized for being a DH. Soto led the league with a .351 average, which is good for second place in my book. I gave my seventh and eighth place votes to Dominic Smith and Michael Conforto.
AL MVP
Jose Abreu has been quietly putting up Hall of Fame-caliber numbers for the White Sox since 2014. Will this be the year he finally gets recognized? He hit 19 homers (second in the league) with a league-leading 60 RBIs and batted .317. Luke Voit of the stupid Yankees is second — he led the league with 22 homers. Shane Bieber had an incredible year (more on him later) and is third on my ballot. He actually could win this.
NL CY YOUNG
Trevor Bauer reluctantly gets the nod with his league-leading 1.73 ERA and his 100 strikeouts, good for second behind deGrom’s 104. His 5-4 record was mediocre, but apparently that doesn’t matter anymore. Yu Darvish was 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA. deGrom’s ERA inched up to 2.38 over his last few starts, costing him his third straight award. Oh well, he’ll get ’em next season!
AL CY YOUNG
Now to Bieber — 8-1, 1.63 ERA, 122 strikeouts in 77.1 innings, winning the Triple Crow of pitching. He’ll be unanimous. Dallas Keuchel and his 1.99 is second and Gerrit Cole is third.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Devin Williams had an impossible 0.33 ERA with 53 strikeouts in 27 innings. It’s unusual for a set-up man to win a major award, but I think it happens here. Alec Bohm hit .338 in 44 games and David Peterson led all NL rookies with six wins to go along with a very respectable 3.44 ERA.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Kyle Lewis gets the nod over Luis Roberts — they both led the way with 11 homers each and Roberts had Lewis beat in RBIs 31-28. But Lewis hit .262 while Roberts hit .233. Ryan Mountcastle is third with a .333 average in 35 games.