Here is how I would have voted on the other categories:
National League MVP: It’s hard to imagine a player more valuable than Shohei Ohtani, who finished with 6.6 bWAR as a hitter and 1.1 as a pitcher.
Ohtani had a 1.014 OPS in 727 plate appearances and had a career-best 55 home runs. His 109 walks also were a career high. In the interest of staying healthy, Ohtani cut down his stolen bases from 59 to 20.
The pitching side was a gradual build to 47 innings over 14 starts after not pitching in 2024 while recovering from Tommy John surgery.
Thanks to MLB’s two-way player rules, the Dodgers essentially get to carry an extra pitcher with Ohtani on the roster.
Kyle Schwarber was tremendous for the Phillies, playing all 162 games while contributing 56 homers and 132 RBIs. He had an .816 OPS through his age-27 season. It’s been .867 in the five seasons since.
Cy Young: It’s not quite as challenging as Judge vs. Raleigh in the AL, but Garrett Crochet or Taruk Skubal is a tough call. Both carried their teams to postseason berths and were All-Stars.
The numbers this season favor Skubal and he should be the choice. But Crochet is the pitcher you would want moving forward. This was his first unfettered season as a starter and he dominated.
Paul Skenes is an easy choice in the NL. He had a 1.97 ERA over 32 starts and 187⅔ innings, an increase of 54⅔ innings from last season.
At 23, Skenes is the best pitcher in the game and any team would happily give up whatever it took to trade for him. The question now is whether the Pirates will wait for the right time to trade him or spend the money to build a contender around such a great talent.
Sadly for Pittsburgh fans, Skenes will almost surely follow the path of Gerrit Cole and be traded.
Rookie of the Year: Athletics first baseman Nick Kurtz should be a runaway winner in the AL after hitting .290 with a 1.002 OPS, 36 homers, and 86 RBIs in 117 games.
It wasn’t a big year for AL rookies beyond that. Roman Anthony played only 71 games for the Red Sox and could finish second. Athletics shortstop Jacob Wilson had an .831 OPS before the break but only .725 afterward.
The Braves’ Drake Baldwin is the NL pick. The 24-year-old shared catching duties with Sean Murphy and hit .274 with an .810 OPS, 19 homers, and 80 RBIs. He also was Atlanta’s DH 12 times.
Cubs righthander Cade Horton was 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA over 23 games. Milwaukee righthander Jacob Misiorowski was selected to the All-Star team based on five games. He then had a 5.36 ERA after the break.
Manager of the Year: It was looking good for Toronto’s John Schneider for much of the summer. But it has to be Cleveland’s Stephen Vogt for a second consecutive year in the AL.
The Guardians were 68-69 on Sept. 2 and went 20-5 the rest of the way to win the Central.
There could be a repeat winner in the NL, too. Pat Murphy won 93 games in 2024 and was Manager of the Year. The Brewers improved to 97 wins this season and won the Central by five games over the Cubs.
Chicago’s payroll was $90.3 million higher than Milwaukee’s.
But the pick should be Terry Francona, who came out of retirement to manage the Reds to their first playoff berth over a 162-game season since 2013.
The Reds made the playoffs despite no qualifying hitter batting .270, nobody hitting more than 22 home runs, or winning more than 14 games or striking out more than 163 hitters.
The Red Sox will hold their end-of-season press conference Monday and the theme is sure to be that they took a step forward but still have room to grow.
“I had a blast this year,” manager Alex Cora said. “Pulling for them, grinding with them. Me and my family really enjoyed this season. The last few years have been tough with the up and downs, and where we were as an organization.
“But I think the front office has done an amazing job pushing forward in certain areas, and it was a fun season. It was.”
The Sox have vastly improved how they develop pitchers. But the rotation now needs improvement from outside the organization.
Garrett Crochet is signed through 2031 and Brayan Bello through 2029. Bello, at best, profiles as a No. 3 starter on a championship contender.
Whether it’s via trade or free agency, the Sox need a reliable No. 2 behind Crochet.
It’s not Lucas Giolito coming off more elbow issues. Tanner Houck is unlikely to pitch next season as he recovers from elbow surgery. Kutter Crawford is expected to return but will be coming off a lost season.
Patrick Sandoval remains under contract. But he hasn’t pitched since 2024 and is 18-45 with a 4.01 ERA in 100 career starts.
Cooper Criswell, Hunter Dobbins, Connelly Early, Richard Fitts, Kyle Harrison, and Payton Tolle all have varying degrees of promise. So does 22-year-old Luis Perales, a well-regarded righthander who will pitch in the Arizona Fall League in his next step back from Tommy John surgery.
But you can’t count on those guys to fill in behind Crochet and Bello and hope to get through next season.
The Sox have outfielders they can trade and the free agent class is expected to include Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Michael King, and Framber Valdez.
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
▪ Jarren Duran was 1 for 11 in the Wild Card Series with four strikeouts. He hit the ball out of the infield once and had a rough series defensively. His bWAR dropped from 8.7 to 4.6 this season.
His trade value has dropped as he approaches his age-29 season. That’s a bad combination.
▪ Masataka Yoshida has an untradeable contract — he has two years and $37.2 million remaining — and is essentially a DH who doesn’t hit for enough power to DH.
Yoshida has played 303 games since joining the Sox and missed 183. Where they go from here with him is anybody’s guess.
But he was 4 for 7 with two RBIs in the Wild Card series. Give him that.
▪ Alex Bregman had a .724 OPS after he returned from his quad strain. He’s an excellent fit with the Sox on and off the field.
But here’s the problem: Scott Boras was happy to wait until mid-February last year to find a contract for his client. And he will do that again if needed.
The Sox have to be prepared to move on if Bregman drags it out again.
The average game time this season was 2:38. That makes three consecutive seasons of game times below 2:40 for the first time since 1983-85.
Only three nine-inning games lasted longer than 3:30. There were 391 games as long or longer in 2021.
To use the Red Sox as an example, they averaged 3:17 in 2021. It was 2:42 this season.
Every new rule in baseball is accompanied by complaints about commissioner Rob Manfred and then gradual acceptance and approval as people realize the game is better.
Even the ghost runner in extra innings, which seemed outrageous at the time, has proven to work. It also has added an element of strategy as some managers believe you should play for two runs in the top of the inning.
Attendance reached 71.4 million this season, a tick up from 71.3 million in 2024 and 70.7 million in 2023.
It was 68.5 million pre-pandemic in 2019. The Dodgers drew 4,012,470, becoming the first team to break four million since the 2008 Yankees (4.2 million) and Mets (4.04).
The Red Sox drew 2,776,496, up from 2,659,949 in 2024. They surpassed three million five times between 2008-12.
ESPN reported that ratings for MLB games were up 21 percent from last season with a 14 percent rise for people 18-49.
The advent of the ABS system next season won’t necessarily increase attendance or television ratings. But it should further improve the game as egregiously missed calls are corrected.
It was mentioned here a few weeks ago that up to nine teams could change managers after the season. We’re up to eight so far if the Orioles, Nationals, and Rockies don’t bring back their interim managers. The Angels, Giants, Braves, Rangers, and Twins have already made their decisions or had them made for them with Brian Snitker deciding to retire in Atlanta and Bruce Bochy electing for a mutual parting with the Rangers. Bochy was replaced by former Marlins manager Skip Schumaker, who joined Texas as a senior adviser after leaving Miami. Strangely, both Rocco Baldelli (Twins) and Bob Melvin (Giants) had their contract options for 2026 picked up by their respective teams during the season only to be fired after the season. The Braves, Orioles, and Giants are win-now teams that should attract interest from Mark DeRosa and David Ross. Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz is another hot name as is former major league catcher Kurt Suzuki. The Angels are focused on Albert Pujols, the rare retired star player who is interested in managing. Baldelli could make a quick turnaround and land with another team. But with the Twins paying him off, the Rhode Island resident could take the season off, dabble in television then return in 2027, assuming there is a 2027 season … The Rockies fired general manager Bill Schmidt and this time plan to hire someone from outside the organization to run baseball operations. Colorado has run a mom-and-pop store for years when compared to other teams with their lack of regard for analytics and sports science. The Rockies have had only nine winning seasons in 33 years … Terry Francona on the Reds being eliminated by the Dodgers: “The season doesn’t just wind down. It just comes to a crashing halt. And that’s kind of hard sometimes to make your peace with. I thought our group from Day 1 was a special group. We did not accomplish what we set out to do. That takes away nothing from what me and the coaches feel about those guys.” … Mookie Betts was asked during the Wild Card Series how Shohei Ohtani would best fit the Dodgers in the postseason. “I think with him probably being the best player in the world, he can fit in wherever he wants to fit in,” Betts said. “Whenever he feels like he needs to go in and pitch, I’m pretty positive nobody with a Dodgers uniform will say no.” … Tigers ace Tarik Skubal accidentally hit the Guardians’ David Fry with a 99.1-m.p.h. fastball on Sept. 23 in Cleveland. Fry, who was trying to bunt, suffered season-ending multiple facial fractures and was taken to the nearby Cleveland Clinic for treatment. After the game, Skubal asked Guardians manager Stephen Vogt if he could visit Fry in the hospital. “I was just about to leave and walk out to my car. I did what any other human being would do and that’s offer someone a ride where they need to go,” Vogt said last week. “He’s an awesome person. It was really cool to get to know the person that he is. Nothing crazy or groundbreaking, it was just conversation.” Skubal appreciated the gesture. “Very thankful for Vogter to allow me to reach out and kind of understand what was going on with me mentally in that moment and allowing me to go with them and kind of — I don’t want to say impede, but I’m not on their team, you know? I know they’re tight-knit group so it was special for me to be able to go and just see him and apologize. Obviously, I know it’s part of the game, but stuff like that is scary, and that’s real-life stuff.” … It appears Bedford native Mike DeBartolo will remain with the Nationals and work under new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni, who left the Red Sox for that job. DeBartolo ran the team after general manager Mike Rizzo was fired in July … The Mariners held a six-inning intrasquad game Wednesday to prepare for the Division Series and Ichiro Suzuki played right field. The 51-year-old Hall of Famer did not take any at-bats but wore a full uniform in the field. He made a catch during the game and fired a strike back to the infield … The Mets know how the 2011 Red Sox feel. They were reported to have a 96.9 percent chance to make the playoffs Sept. 5, then collapsed, losing 14 of 21. Owner Steve Cohen didn’t fire anybody after the disaster but something is amiss in Queens. That Pete Alonso said immediately after the final game that he would exercise his contract option and become a free agent seemed like a telling sign. Tough break for Juan Soto, not being able to use that free suite in the postseason … Strange but true from this season: Byron Buxton had 542 plate appearances and did not ground into a double play. José Ramirez had a .916 OPS in 0-and-2 counts. The major league average was .397. Aaron Judge was intentionally walked 34 times. That was more than any entire team outside the Yankees. Take Judge away and the Yankees had only 13. Lawrence Butler had 630 plate appearances without being hit by a pitch. Luke Raley was hit 13 times in only 290 plate appearances. Rafael Devers played 163 games, the first time a player has done that since Justin Morneau of the Twins in 2008 … Happy birthday to Andy Kosco, who is 84. The outfielder and first baseman from Ohio played in the majors from 1965-74. That included a 17-game stint with the Red Sox in 1972. Kosco was obtained from the Angels on Aug. 19 while the Sox were in Texas playing the Rangers. Texas manager Ted Williams opined at the time that Kosco “has a great attitude.” Even so, Kosco was 10 for 47 (.213) and was traded to the Reds before the 1973 season. He did manage to homer off future Hall of Famers Rich Gossage and Gaylord Perry while a member of the Sox. In all, Kosco played for seven teams and hit 73 homers. He went into the insurance business after baseball.