2023 Postseason Awards

While we wait for the World Series to start, here are my votes for postseason awards. Of course, I have no real vote, but these are my votes in the IBWAA awards. So that’s something.

NL MVP

I will start off by saying Ronald Acuna Jr. will win this award, and deservedly so. But I just could not ignore Matt Olson’s 54 home runs and 139 RBIs, not to mention a very respectable .283 average. So I gave him my contrarian vote. I have Mookie Betts third. I threw Pete Alonso my 10th place vote, because why not?

AL MVP

This will be unanimous. Shohei Ohtani will win, no questions. I have Corey Seager and Julio Rodriguez second and third, respectively.

NL CY YOUNG

This will be a competitive race. Blake Snell will likely win his second Cy Young award, based on his MLB-leading 2.25 ERA. I put Kodai Senga second — his 2.98 ERA was second in the National League. I have Justin Steele third. I expect Spencer Strider to receive plenty of support — he was baseball’s only 20-game winner and he did lead all of MLB with 281 strikeouts, but his 3.86 ERA was just too high for me. Maybe a decade ago…

AL CY YOUNG

Another unanimous one. Gerrit Cole led the AL in ERA and innings pitched. I have Luis Castillo second and Kevin Gausman third.

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

I really wanted to vote for a Met, but Corbin Carroll was just too good. This could be unanimous, too. Poor Senga — always the bridesmaid. I put Francisco Alvarez third because hey, this is a Mets blog!

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR