So lets see if the voters got it right in picking the award winners this year.
Manager Of The Year
National League: Matt Williams Washington Nationals
Williams got the nod over Clint Hurdle of the Pirates and Bruce Bochy of San Francisco. Williams earned 18 of a possible 30 first-place votes to win NL honors. With his win, Williams became the fourth first-year manager to snag the award, joining the likes of Joe Girardi in 2006, Dusty Baker in 1993 and Hal Lanier in 1986. Williams was the only finalist in the NL with a division title to his credit, Williams led the Nationals to 96 wins and a runaway NL East title, winning it by 17 games. Washington had a steady rise to the top in the Division and were able to overcome some of the injuries to their star players like Bryce Harper, Wilson Ramos and Ryan Zimmerman for extended periods of time. Even with those guys missing time, Williams was still able led his team to the highest win total in the league. Very deserving indeed.
American League Buck Showalter, Baltimore Orioles
Buck got the nod over Mike Scioscia of the Angels and Ned Yost of the Royals. Showalter picked up the most first-place votes for an AL winner since Joe Maddon had 26 in 2011. Buck managed to led the Orioles to their first AL East title since 1997, separating from the pack by 12 games. In his fourth full season after arriving late in 2010, Showalter joined Frank Robinson (1989) and Davey Johnson (1997) as Orioles skippers to win the Manager of the Year Award. In 2014, Showalter kept the O's on track despite losing All-Star talents in Matt Wieters, Manny Machado and Chris Davis to join La Russa (White Sox, A's, Cardinals) as the only skippers to win Manager of the Year honors for three different teams, the first to win all three in the same league. Showalter won his first Manager of the Year in 1994 with the Yankees, three years into his career and one year before he led them to the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. Showalter won it again in 2004 with the Rangers, also a team that didn't make it to the postseason.
This is a perfect example of how the playoffs have no bearing on these awards, as both Ned Yost and Bruce Bochy finished far back of the winners for the Award.
Rookie Of The Year
National League: Jacob deGrom, New York Mets
DeGrom picked up 26 of the 30 votes to walk away with the ROY award, beating out Billy Hamilton of the Reds and Kolton Wong of the Cards. Here's a guy who managed to move up the ladder of success very very quickly this season, starting the year in Class A ball and was listed as the 19th-best prospect in the club's farm system prior to the 2014 campaign. That's really hitting the fast track. Once he got to the Majors he never looked back. After moving to the rotation in May , he started put up numbers and feats of awesomeness like a 2.69 ERA in 22 starts, 144 strikeouts in 140 1/3 innings (9.2 strikeouts per nine innings) and only 43 walks. deGrom also went 3-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his last five starts, striking out 11 per nine innings in that stretch. During one September outing, he struck out the first eight batters he faced. Sure Billy Hamilton had a good year in his own right, but deGrom was just flat out better this year. With the type of season that deGrom had, it makes most Mets fans excited for the next few years to come, because of how good the pitching staff is right now in Queens. It gives most Mets fans a lot to be hopeful for in regards to their star arms.
American League: Jose Abreu, Chicago White Sox
This was a runaway for the award, as Abreu won by picking up all 30 first place votes. Abreu easily beat out Matt Shoemaker of the Angels and Dellin Betances of the Yankees. This was a runaway in every sense of the word. The other two guys who were even remotely close in the voting were both pitchers, who did have a good year I'm not taking anything away from them. Still though it wasn't even really close. Abreu finished the year hitting .317 with 36 homers and 107 RBI and 80 runs scored. He put these numbers up on a somewhat bad White Sox team. Only two other guys in Chicago, Dayan Viciedo (21 HR) and Adam Dunn (20 HR before he was traded) where the only other two Sox to hit over 20 homers. Abreu was the only Sox to drive in more than 100 runs, hell he was the only White Sox to drive in more than 80 runs on the season. He was carrying the team, doing it all as a rookie no less. There was no other rookie in the American League who even came close to putting up the numbers Abreu did this season.
The Rookie Of The Year awards were given out to the right guys in both leagues.
Cy Young Award
National League: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
You want to talk about domination in winning an award, this guy has done it recently. This is not only the 3rd time Kershaw has won it in his career, its the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons he won it (2012 was the only one he didn't win and that one went to RA Dickey), and the 2nd year in a row its gone out to LA. The only question for Kershaw this year wasn't whether he was going to win it or not, it was whether he was going to be a unanimous vote or not. Kershaw, at 26 , became the youngest pitcher in history to claim a third Cy Young Award. Kershaw won 21 games this year, as him Johnny Cueto and Adam Wainwright were the only 20 game winners in the NL this year. The difference is that Kershaw only suffered 3 losses all year, while Cueto and Wainwright each suffered 9 losses during the season. Plus, Kershaw finished the year with a 1.71 ERA, the lowest of any starter in all of baseball. The only other NL pitcher who had an ERA under two, and got votes for the Cy Young, was Craig Kimbrel and he's the closer in Atlanta. This one was almost a lock down that Kershaw was going to take the award.
American League:Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians
This was a close race between him and Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners. Sure King Felix had slightly better numbers overall in Seattle. Kluber finished the year with a 18-9 record, a 2.44 ERA, and 269 strikeouts in 235 2/3 innings. What got Kluber the nod where his numbers in the second half of the season: a 1.73 ERA, 127 punchouts and 104 innings pitched. Those numbers, post all star break, lead all of Major League Baseball. I know both the Indians and Mariners ended up missing the playoffs this year, but if Kluber hadn't gone off in the 2nd half of the year, helping keep the Indians relevant in the Central race, then it might have gone to Felix. BUt as is such, Kluber had the better end to the year and won the award.
It was close for the AL Cy, with Kluber beating out Felix. At the end of the day, the Cy Young did in fact go to the best pitchers in baseball this year.
Most Valuable Player Award
National League: Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Kershaw had a season for the ages in 2014. He beat out Giancarlo Stanton of the Marlins and Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates as the best player in the National League. 2014 had plenty to admire for Kershaw, starting with an unprecedented fourth consecutive ERA title. His 1.77 mark that was the lowest in the NL since Greg Maddux posted a 1.63 ERA in 1995. Kershaw led the Majors in ERA and with 21 victories, a 0.86 WHIP and six complete games, and the Dodgers won 23 of his 27 starts in a season interrupted early by the left-hander's back injury. Naturally, he worked in a no-hitter, too. Yeah Kershaw was dominating. Kershaw becomes just the 11th pitcher to earn the MVP-Cy Young double and the third Dodgers pitcher to do it. The other pitchers to win MVP and Cy Young in the same year are: Don Newcombe (1956), Sandy Koufax (1963), Bob Gibson and Denny McLain (1968), Vida Blue (1971), Rollie Fingers (1981), Willie Hernandez (1984), Roger Clemens (1986), Dennis Eckersley (1992) and, most recently, Justin Verlander in 2011. Kershaw is the 11th Dodgers player to win it, the first since Kirk Gibson in 1988.
What lead Kershaw to beat out Stanton was what happened to Stanton at the end of the year. He got hurt near the end of the season and missed the rest of the way/ Sure Stanton put up outstanding numbers, hitting .288 on the year, with 37 homers and 105 RBI. Had Stanton been able to stay healthy and finish the year out, and had the Marlins been in more of playoff contention, then it would have gone to Stanton. That's partially why Kershaw beat Stanton out for the award.
American League: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
This guy has been one of the biggest, and brightest, young stars in the game. Over the last two years, prior to this one, he had played bridesmaid to Miguel Cabrera. Now Mike Trout has gotten the recognition he deserves, picking up the AL MVP by a unanimous vote. Victor Martinez of the Tigers and Michael Brantley of the Indians both had solid seasons in their own right, but nothing close to the year that Trout had. thanks to his prolific numbers in 2014, Trout became the first player in history to lead his league in runs scored in his first three years in the Majors. This year, he topped the AL with 115. He set or tied career highs in doubles with 39, triples with nine, home runs with 36 and RBIs with an AL-high 111, also leading the Majors in extra-base hits with 84 and total bases with 338. The numbers just go on and on, and the superb talent can be seen with every swing and every running dive in the outfield as Trout, who took his power game to a new level in 2014, evolves as a player. This one wasn't even really close, Trout was head and shoulders above the rest in the American League as the best player. Trout becomes the 5th youngest player to win the AL MVP (at 23 years 52 days), joining the likes of Vida Blue (22 Y, 64 D 1971), Stan Musial (22 Y, 316 D 1943), Johnny Bench (22 Y, 298 D 1970) and Cal Ripken Jr. (23 Y, 39 D 1983). At the pace Trout is setting, the sky is the sky's the limit for this guy.
It's safe to say that the sports writers got it right in picking the winners this year!
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