The 2015 Awards

Stop me if you've heard me say this before: This blog is called On The Field of Play because the focus is on the game of baseball, not the off-field stuff. When they intersect--last week's qualifying offers, for example--I'll comment. But I don't drive myself crazy with the Hall of Fame vote and players' unfortunate wandering into politics, because they don't affect the game on the field. Ditto awards votes. But the awards are supposed to have at least some relevance to the game on the field, so I'll fly over them quickly, as I did with the Gold Glove awards.

Rookie of the Year. The National League winner will be the Cubs' Kris Bryant, who led all rookies in homers, runs, RBI, doubles, and on base percentage (350+ plate appearances). He's a no-brainer. The American League race is between two shortstops: 

Player	Age	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
Carlos Correa	21	HOU	99	432	387	52	108	22	1	22	68	14	4	40	78	.279	.345	.512	.857	132
Francisco Lindor	22	CLE	99	438	390	50	122	22	4	12	51	12	2	27	69	.313	.353	.482	.835	122

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com

Generated 11/16/2015.

Lindor's the better fielder of the two, so I'd give him the nod. But Correa will win, given his gaudier home run and RBI figures and the fact that he was, one could pretty convincingly argue, the best position player on a team that surprisingly made it to the postseason.

Manager of the Year. They really should call this "manager of the most unexpectedly good team of the year," because that's how it'll go this year, and often does the same. I think an argument could be made for the Cardinals' Mike Matheny, who had to overcome a deluge of injuries in guiding St. Louis to the best record in the majors, or the Royals' Ned Yost, whose team had the best record in the American League after being picked by many to finish below .500. But it will come down to Minnesota's Paul Molitor, Texas's Jeff Banister, and Houston's A.J. Hinch in the American League and Chicago's Joe Maddon and New York's Terry Collins in the National, as each team was unexpectedly good. I think Banister and Maddon will win.

Cy Young Award. Houston's Dallas Keuchel led the American League in wins (20), WHIP (1.02), innings (232), and park-adjusted ERA; was second in ERA (2.48), hits per nine innings (7.2), and home runs per nine innings (0.7); and was fifth in strikeouts (216) and strikeout/walk ratio (4.2). He'll win easily, with David Price, who played for Detroit and Toronto, finishing second. The National League, by contrast, is a three-way horse race:

Pitcher	Tm	W	L	ERA	GS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA+	WHIP	H9	HR9	BB9	SO9	SO/W
Jake Arrieta	Chi	22	6	1.77	33	229.0	150	52	45	10	48	236	222	0.865	5.9	0.4	1.9	9.3	4.92
Zack Greinke	LA	19	3	1.66	32	222.2	148	43	41	14	40	200	225	0.844	6.0	0.6	1.6	8.1	5.00
Clayton Kershaw	LA	16	7	2.13	33	232.2	163	62	55	15	42	301	175	0.881	6.3	0.6	1.6	11.6	7.17

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com
Generated 11/16/2015.

You could make a pretty good argument for any of them. I'd go with Kershaw because of his workload and his strikeouts. Arrieta will win, because of his won-lost record (helped by the Cubs scoring 4.0 run per 27 outs when he was in the game, 22nd most in the league, compared to 3.6 for both Greinke and Kershaw), but that's OK. They were all dominant.

Most Valuable Player. Another runaway in one league, tossup in the other. The runaway is Washington's Bryce Harper, who led the National League in on base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, runs, home runs, and home run frequency; was second in batting average, walks, and total bases; fifth in doubles and RBI; and ninth in hits. In the American League, it's between two players:

Player	Tm	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+
Josh Donaldson	Tor	158	711	620	122	184	41	2	41	123	4	0	73	133	.297	.371	.568	.939	155
Mike Trout	LA	159	682	575	104	172	32	6	41	90	11	7	92	158	.299	.402	.590	.991	176

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com
Generated 11/16/2015.

That's four full seasons in the majors, four seasons finishing first or second in the MVP vote for Trout. I'd pick him to win this year, too: The close comparison between the two players statistically melts away when you consider that Donaldson played in a much better hitter's park and a much better lineup, affording him more opportunities to score and drive in runs. That being said, Donaldson's team went to the postseason and Trout's didn't, and that's probably enough to make Trout the runner-up.