MLB
postseason awards arouses debate among
fans
Jesse Munoz
Only eight teams have earned the privilege of postseason play and a chance at
the ultimate reward of a World Series ring, but many players still have a chance
to garner the respect of their peers and the admiration of fans through a variety
of postseason awards.
Players and managers will both agree individual statistics and postseason awards
mean nothing if the team does not do well. That being said, have you ever seen
one of those players or managers turn down a postseason award?
The truth is that while team success should always be the players' main objective,
the accumulation of stats and awards help increase player status and solidify
a place in the record books.
Even teams finding themselves out of reach of any postseason play can have a
potential MVP on the roster or a Cy Young Award candidate on the mound that help
to keep things interesting during the long season.
This year almost all of the major award races came down to the wire and are still
being decided as the postseason gets underway. Both the National and American
League races for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year will
be announced in the coming weeks, but here’s a preview of how things might
play out.
The AL MVP race between the Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez and Boston’s
David Ortiz looks to be a split vote, but I don’t see how MVP can go to
a player who doesn’t take the field to play defense.
I’m not a Rodriguez
fan, but give the guy credit. He moved to third base at the beginning of last
year and in the two seasons since, has transformed himself into a Gold Glove-caliber
third baseman.
The offensive numbers are always there for A-Rod and this season has been no
different, but he may lose votes to the fact that the Yankees struggled for the
better part of the season.
David Ortiz’s season was filled with clutch
at-bats and walk-off home runs to keep the Red Sox alive and this could bring
the trophy to Beantown, but I still think the defensive argument gives Rodriguez
another MVP.
In the National League the MVP race features the Chicago Cubs Triple-Crown threat
Derrick Lee, the St. Louis Cardinals' perennial candidate Albert Pujols, and
the Atlanta Braves' stud center-fielder Andruw Jones.
Again the defensive factor
could help Jones take home his first MVP award. What Jones lacked in some of
the offensive categories, mainly average and on-base percentage, he made up for
it with his power numbers and clutch hitting.
Jones carried the Braves on his back for the better part of the summer while
Chipper Jones sat out with injuries and pitcher Tim Hudson struggled on the mound.
He was the only player in the league to hit 50 homeruns, and his career high
of 128 RBIs this season, included 22 game-winning RBIs, which led the majors.
Adding to that, he plays a Gold Glove- caliber center field. I say give him the
MVP because chances are he isn’t going to get a World Series ring this
year.
Angels pitcher Bartolo Colon looks to be the frontrunner for the AL Cy Young
Award with closer Mariano Rivera his closest competition.
Although Colon got
rocked by the Yankees in the first game of the divisional series, his 21 wins
topped the charts in the AL and his 3.48 ERA was equally impressive. Only relievers
with the last name Gagne deserve to win a Cy Young, so this one should go to
Bartolo.
The NL Cy Young race was a little closer, but the competition still boiled down
to two main candidates, the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter and the Florida
Marlins’ Dontrelle Willis. Both are young phenoms who will no doubt be
two of the dominant pitchers of their era and this year showed just how good
they both can be.
The award is going to be a toss-up, with Carpenter holding a slight edge because
his team is involved in postseason play, but both players are very deserving.
Each won over 20 games, Carpenter had 21 and Willis had 22. They both posted
impressive ERAs—Carpenter had 2.83 and Willis had 2.63.
While I agree the
postseason presence of the Cardinals should factor into the decision, I like
Dontrelle more and give him credit for winning 22 games with a weaker lineup.
Rookie of the Year honors aren’t as hard to hand out. The NL award should
go to Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. Howard belted 22 homers
in only 312 at-bats, and had a .288 average. His hot hitting in the month of
September helped keep Philadelphia in the wild card race down the stretch.
It’s
clear the Phillies will use Howard’s emergence to phase out the aging and
injury plagued Jim Thome at first, and a Rookie of the Year award would definitely
give merit to that move.
After a few weeks of no production by second baseman Tony Womack, New York called
up Robinson Cano, their highly touted prospect. The 24 year old was placed in
the starting lineup, opposite captain Derek Jeter at shortstop and was either
going to sink or swim.
He stayed afloat, and impressed the hard-nosed Yankee
fans by batting .297 with 14 home runs. Give him the trophy and get used to watching
Jeter and Cano turn two in the Bronx.
Both my picks for Manager of the Year will be watching the playoffs from home,
but that doesn’t take away from the job they did this season Cleveland
Indians Manager Eric Wedge deserves the honor in the AL.
Wedge took a very young Indian roster that most people thought was a year away
from making any noise, and guided them to within a game of the wildcard. On Aug.
1 the Indians were 15 games out of first in the Central Division, but battled
back to make it interesting, and in doing so laid a solid foundation for next
season.
In the NL, look no farther than Washington Nationals Manager Frank Robinson.
Robinson not only had to contend with the stresses of relocating a franchise,
he took a last- place team and transformed them into a respected force in the
NL East.
The Nationals enjoyed a 14- game win increase from last year, and led their division
for most of the first half of the season, finishing the season at 82-82.
That
record isn’t impressive but it’s a significant improvement, and a
noteworthy accomplishment considering the payroll and front office management
Robinson must contend with.
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