With the trade deadline come and gone teams are ready to either contend or prepare for a long off-season. The Boston Red Sox have played well under new manager John Farrell and the addition of Jake Peavy at the deadline will improve their starting rotation but will it be enough to get into the post-season? While the Dodgers have been lights out since Yasiel Puig has come onto the scene.
NL MVP Winner TBD: This is the most wide-open award right now with no clear cut winner. No one wants to separate themselves from the pack. The man who may be in the lead is Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt leads the NL in RBI's with 91 and is one homerun behind Pedro Alvarez for the lead and batting a respectable .297 average. Should a player win the MVP if his teams does not qualify for the post-season.? That is the million dollar question. If thats the case then Goldschmidt would be ruled out. So who would follow.... It could be Brandon Phillips or Joey Votto in Cincinnati, maybe it's the Pirates captain Andrew McCutchen. If I had a vote though, I'd probably vote for Freddie Freeman in Atlanta. He's been consistant all season with a .319/14Homeruns/79RBI's.
NL CY YOUNG Winner Clayton Kershaw: The 2011 NL CY Young Winner, 2011 NL Pitching Triple Crown Winner and 2011 strikeout leader is at it again. Clayton Kershaw has been the ace for the Dodgers for a few years now but he is rounding out into arguably the games best pitcher. Kershaw is (11-7) which by league standards is average but that is because for most of the first half of the season the Dodgers were unable to produce for Kershaw. He leads the MLB in both ERA and WHIP with unprecedented numbers. His 1.88 ERA and 0.87 WHIP are out of this world and his 39 walks is also an impressive stat. The only person who could come close to taking it away from Kershaw would be New York Mets ace Matt Harvey but one plays for a playoff team while the other will be done after game 162.
NL ROY Winner Jose Fernandez: It's hard to look past what Jose Fernandez is doing in Miami. Despite playing for a team that scores less than two runs a game. Fernandez gives his team a chance to win every time he steps on the mound. Over his last 3 starts Fernandez has recorded 32 strikeouts over 21 innings while giving up 2 runs. His (8-5) record is good in Miami and will surely see votes, but the sexy pick is Yasiel Puig. Puig has come up and done nothing but hit the ball and help the Dodgers win. Since being called up on June 3rd, Puig is batting .376/11Homeruns/26RBI'S and 7 Stolen Bases. The Dodgers are (42-18) since hes been called up. Matt Harvey does not qualify for this award!
NL PLAYOFF PREDICTION:
1. Atlanta Braves
2. Los Angeles Dodgers
3. St.Louis Cardinals
WC1: Pittsburgh Pirates
WC2: Cincinnati Reds
AL MVP Winner Miguel Cabrera: The reigning AL MVP and Triple Crown Winner is on pace for his best season to date. He currently leads the league with a crazy .365 average which is .40 points higher than 2nd place Mike Trout. He is at 36 homeruns which is six behind leader Chris Davis and leads the MLB in RBI's with 110. Chris Davis may be the sexy pick here because he's come out of the blue, while Cabrera has been doing this for over a decade. Davis leads the MLB with 42 homeruns and is one RBI behind Cabrera. His .300 average puts him in the category of MVP. It will all come down to the final week of the season between these two and whoever has the better end to the season will win the award.
AL CY YOUNG Winner Max Scherzer: With Bartolo Colon as the closest runner up, and the fact that he has been suspended with the Biogenesis Suit coming forward, Scherzer is the unanimous choice for AL CY Young. His 17 wins are an MLB best and boasts an impressive (17-1) record. His 175 Strikeouts puts him 3rd in the AL behind Yu Darvish of Texas and Felix Hernandez of Seattle and his current 2.84 ERA has him 5th in the AL. Scherzer is part of a great rotation in Detroit along the likes of Verlander, Anibal Sanchez, Doug Fister and Rick Porcello and will surely help lead the Tigers to another AL Central Division Title
AL ROY Chris Archer: The Tampa Bay Rays are surely in love with their 2013 rookies. Both Chris Archer and Will Myers were acquired in trades in previous years and are now paying dividens. Archer was the centrepiece in the Matt Garza deal. Garza went from the Rays to the Cubs. While Myers was acquired last year as the centrepiece in the James Shields to Kansas City deal. The only reason Myers won't win the award is because even if he plays in the last 49 games of the season he will have only logged 90 games. While Archer has been pitching for longer. Archer's stats are good enough to help back him up for this award. Archer is (6-4) with a 2.71 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP. He's also pitched two complete game shutouts against Houston and at Yankee Stadium.
AL PLAYOFF PREDICTION:
1. Texas Rangers
2. Detroit Tigers
3. Tampa Bay Rays
WC1: Baltimore Orioles
WC2: Oakland Athletics
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