Awards season is upon us this MLB offseason. Just last week, we saw the Washington Nationals be crowned World Series champions, but now it’s time for the individual awards. All finalists for Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards for both the American and National League have been announced and will be revealed beginning November 11th. Now it’s time for the End of the Bench’s predictions for each award. Here, we are going to look at the Cy Young award in the National League.
NL MVP:
Cody Bellinger, LAD
Anthony Rendon, WAS
Christian Yelich, MIL
Another MVP race in which you spin the wheel and take whoever’s name it lands on. Three of the best names in the National League up against each other for the hardware. First, we start off with Bellinger, who continues to build off his incredible rookie season of 2017. The 23-year-old hit .305 with 47 home runs with an OPS of 1.035. Let’s also not forget the fact that he was stellar in the field as well with a DRS of 19, a year in which he played three positions (1B, CF and RF). Bellinger is good for baseball and the Dodgers should look to lock him up long term. Speaking of locking guys up long term, there is Anthony Rendon, your now free agent MVP candidate. Rendon was the most important piece of the Nationals World Series championship season. .319/.412/.598 slash line, 34 home runs, 44 doubles, OPS+ of 143. The Nationals let Bryce Harper leave because they didn’t want to pay him the money. There’s no question that they need to invest that money in Rendon. The reigning NL MVP, Christian Yelich, continued to show how good he really is. 30 home runs before the All-Star break, 44 for the year. He was the NL batting champ with a.329 average, while also posting a .671 SLG, OPS of 1.100 and 30 stolen bases in 32 attempts. Years ago, during his early years in Miami, I said Yelich was going to be a star one day. He just looked like he had the stuff. I have to admit I love being right. Unfortunately, Yelich’s season ended prematurely due to a fractured kneecap.
The decision on who this award should go to is in no way clear cut. Honestly, it’s hard for me to make a decision here. If we look in terms of WAR, Bellinger is the leader with 9.0 (Yelich was 7.1, Rendon was 6.3) and in the basic definition of WAR, this shows Bellinger was most important to his team when he was in the lineup. But it goes a little deeper than that. Who was the most valuable to his team? Without Rendon, do the Nationals make it to the Wild Card game, let alone win the World Series? If the Brewers had Yelich down the stretch, do they win the NL Central? It’s very tough, but I think I’m gonna go with my gut and the guy who was leading the votes towards the end of the season.
Winner: Cody Bellinger, LAD
