Manager of the Year

AL manager of the year was a great race down to the last day. For much of the season it looked like Buck Showalter was a runaway winner, but the last month Bob Melvin threw his name into the ring and overtook Showalter on the last day. Buck guided the Orioles into the playoffs as a wildcard with a 93-69 record second in the AL East. Out in the West the A’s came from 13 down in June to overtake Texas on the final day of the year sweeping the final series against Texas. Even in the tough AL East winning the division over the two time defending AL champs whereas Baltimore fell short as just the wildcard gives the edge to Melvin.

Winner: Bob Melvin Oakland A’s

NL manager of the year was a little more cut and dry with Davey Johnson being the easy winner as Washington won the NL East. Washington went 98-64 along with winning the division they had the best record in all of baseball. Washington was thought of to be a possible contend for a wildcard and battle it out with Atlanta, Philadelphia and possibly Florida in the NL East. Washington was 18 games better than 2011 which is why Johnson is a clear cut winner.

Winner: Davey Johnson

MVP

AL MVP was a tight race as Mike Trout was a phenom since being called up in late April and helped turn the sluggish start for Albert Pujols and the Angels around. The other candidate was Miguel Cabrera who put the Tigers on his back in the final month of the season to lead them into the postseason. These two were neck and neck Trout’s numbers were .326 average, 30 homeruns, 83 RBIs, 49 stolen bases, and 129 runs scored. Cabrera’s numbers were .330 average, 44 homeruns, 139 RBIs, 109 runs and .606 slugging percentage. There were two main factors that led to Cabrera winning over Trout, 1) Detroit made the playoffs with Cabrera carrying the Tigers with 10 homeruns and 27 RBIs highs for any month of the season for him with the Angels failing to make the playoffs and 2) he won the Triple Crown leading the AL in HRs, RBIs and batting average.

Winner: Miguel Cabrera

NL MVP was Buster Posey, he would have been battling his teammate Melky Cabrera, but once Cabrera got suspended Posey needed to step up and did. Posey hit 10 Homeruns and 39 RBIs combined in August and September while hitting .371 in those months. With that hot hitting Posey surged ahead to overtake Andrew McCutchen for top average in the NL at .336 which was also tops in the majors. Posey’s play helped the Giants pull away from the Dodgers even after they made the blockbuster trade and the Giants won the division by eight games.

Winner: Buster Posey

Cy Young Award

AL Cy Young Award could of gone to many different pitchers who had solid years, but it came down to two pitchers who had years just above the others. The two pitchers are David Price of Tampa Bay and the LA Angels’ Jared Weaver. There are three key stats for pitchers: strikeouts, ERA, and wins. In those stats Price was first in ERA with a 2.56 and Weaver 2.81, strikeouts Price 205 and Weaver 142, and wins each had 20. In three other main categories for pitchers are WHIP, CG and BAA. WHIP is Walk Hits per inning pitched Weaver was 1.02 while Price was 1.10. CG is Complete Games Price had two Weaver had three including a no hitter. BAA is Batting Average Against Price’s was .226 which is good, but Weaver’s was better at .214. The other stats, no hitter and the dominance he showed throughout the season gives Weaver the slight edge and award.

Winner: Jared Weaver

NL Cy Young was just as close as the AL with Gio Gonzalez, Johnny Cueto and RA Dickey all having outstanding years. A lot of times they give the award to a player on the team that makes the playoffs and in this instance Cueto and Gonzalez made the playoffs whereas Dickey didn’t. Dickey had 20 wins against just six losses, second in ERA at 2.73, tops in strikeouts 230 and innings with 233. Gonzalez was tops with 21 wins, tied for fourth with 207 strikeouts, 6th with a 2.89 era, but fewer than 200 innings which put him 19th in that category . Cueto was 5th with 217 innings, 3rd with 2.78 era, 3rd with 19 wins, but had only 170 strikeouts which was 19th. Dickey was top 3 in all categories and did so on a team that finished 14 games under .500, in fourth place and collapsed in the second half.

Winner: RA Dickey