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The Los Angeles Dodgers just won the World Series again. They beat the Toronto Blue Jays in a thrilling seven-game series to become the first team in 25 years to win back-to-back championships. Now that the team trophies are polished and the confetti has finally settled in our attention snaps to the next big event. That is the official awards season in Major League Baseball, where we get to find out who will be crowned the MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year. And the 2025 season, which is already packed with unbelievable stories and historic achievements, is now creating huge debates for its MVP contenders. And the American League is a true toss-up, where anyone will be confused about how to pick the winner. Do they vote for Cal Raleigh’s historic 60 home runs as a catcher? Or do they pick Aaron Judge, who led baseball in almost every advanced analytics category? At the same time, Shohei Ohtani, who won last year’s MVP award with an incredible 50-50 season, returned to the mound and is making a big splash. Can Shohei Ohtani win again in the National League, or will they choose someone else? Other departments, like Cy Young and Rookie of the Year, are also worth noting. We just saw history in the playoffs, so we might see more history when the winners are announced. But when will that be? And when do we find out who wins? The answers will be announced very soon, starting on November 10th. Here is everything you need to know about the 2025 MLB Awards. MLB Awards 2025: Know the nominations, what makes them contenders, and more Like every year, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) has announced the top three finalists for its major awards just after the World Series victory parades. The American League finalists are packed with talent. For the MVP race, they nominated Aaron Judge (Yankees), Cal Raleigh (Mariners), and José Ramírez (Guardians) as the top three finalists. The AL Cy Young features a competition between last year’s CY Young winner, Tarik Skubal (Tigers), Hunter Brown (Astros), and the Red Sox’s ace Garrett Crochet. And for the AL Rookie of the Year award, two Athletics teammates, Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, will battle a Red Sox rookie, Roman Anthony, whose season was limited due to injury. And finally, we have the Manager of the Year finalists, including the Blue Jays’ John Schneider, the Guardians’ Stephen Vogt, and the Seattle Mariners’ Dan Wilson. Read Top Stories First From EssentiallySports Click here and check box next to EssentiallySports Meanwhile, the National League MVP finalists are last year’s MVP, Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who led the team to their back-to-back World Series with the Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber, and Right fielder Juan Soto in his first season with the New York Mets. But the most interesting will be the NL Cy Young race. It is incredibly close, and it has names like the Pirates’ ace Paul Skenes, Philadelphia’s Cristopher Sánchez, and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Japanese Phenom and World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto. And for the NL Rookie of the Year, the finalists are Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers’ Caleb Durbin, and Cade Horton of the Chicago Cubs. And Cincinnati Reds evergreen Manager Terry Francona, who signed with the team last season, even with declining health, will chase Brewers’ Pat Murphy and Phillies Manager Rob Thomson for the NL Manager of the Year award. So, it will be a close race and interesting to see who comes off with the flying colors, but When will they be announced? Know the schedule, process, rules, and more The winners will be revealed during a special awards week in November, and MLB Network will host all the live reveals, which start with the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year on Monday, November 10, at 6 p.m. ET. Then comes the Manager of the Year on Tuesday, November 11. And finally, the winner of the Cy Young award will be announced on Wednesday, November 12, at 7 p.m. ET, before the most interesting Most Valuable Player awards announcement on Thursday, November 13. And what’s the selection process? The Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) handles all the voting. And for each award, two writers from each league city submit a ballot. This creates a panel of 30 expert voters for each league who use a weighted point system for the awards. For the MVP award, voters basically rank their top ten players, and for Cy Young, they rank their top five. And here is the most important rule. All ballots are submitted before the first pitch of the postseason, so the player’s playoff heroics do not count. For example, Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s World Series MVP award will not help his Cy Young case. And the same goes with Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, and Cal Raleigh as well. So these awards are for the 162-game regular season only. Still, the MVP ballot is the most interesting because there is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide. And now, the most important thing is, Who are the top contenders for each award? All about Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and others Let’s start with the most interesting heavyweight fight, the AL MVP Award. Aaron Judge, who already won two times before, makes his case this time with a league-leading .331 average, 53 homers, 114 RBIs, and 137 runs scored with a monstrous 9.7 WAR, .457 OBP, and .688 slugging percentage. On the other side is Cal Raleigh. The Mariners catcher had a historic season, becoming the first switch-hitting catcher to hit 60 home runs and lead the AL with 125 RBIs, and later helped the Mariners’ most successful postseason run, but alas, it’ll not count. And the Ramírez case is also strong, like their greatest comeback in the regular season. Ramírez 30-40 (HR- SB) season and a slash line of .283/.360/.503 helped the Guardians to win the division title. The National League MVP race is not much of a race at all compared to that. Shohei Ohtani is the clear and undisputed favorite and expected to win his third consecutive MVP award with a .282 batting average and a 55-home-run season at the plate and a 2.87 ERA in his 14 starts with a WHIP on the mound. Kyle Schwarber (56 HR, 132 RBI) and Juan Soto (43 HR, 38 SB) had amazing years. But they are not Ohtani, right? But this season, the Cy Young races are one of the tightest races ever, and no need to say it will get some extra attention as well. In the AL, Tigers ace Tarik Skubal is the favorite to win back-to-back awards with a league-leading 2.21 ERA, 241 strikeouts, a .891 WHIP, and 6.6 WAR. But he’s not without competition: Astros ace Hunter Brown, who went 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA (slightly more than Skubal), 206 strikeouts in his 185⅓ innings, a .201 opponent average, and 4.8 WAR, is also on the list. And this time, Skubal also got some tough competition from Red Sox ace Garrett Crochet, who topped the AL pitchers with 255 punchouts and over 205 innings pitched with a respectable 2.59 ERA. And in the case of the National League, it is a thrilling three-way toss-up. Pirates ace Paul Skenes had the league’s best ERA at 1.97 with 216 strikeouts in 187.2 innings, and a 10-10 record. The others in this list are the Dodgers’ ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Phillies lefty Cristopher Sánchez. Yamamoto had a 2.49 ERA and struck out 201 batters over 173⅓ innings, and was the most consistent pitcher for the Dodgers’ battered rotation from the first game to the last man standing when he closed the World Series Game 7 for them. And do not sleep on Cristopher Sánchez as well. The Phillies lefty had a 2.50 ERA over 200 innings with 212 strikeouts and led all MLB pitchers with an 8.0 WAR and never left any question, even after their ace pitcher Zack Wheeler was down during the regular season.. This season gave us so many incredible stories, and one of the most touchy among them is that we will also see a new generation crowned. Two Athletics teammates, Nick Kurtz and Jacob Wilson, battle Roman Anthony of the BoSox to top the AL Rookie of the Year award. Kurtz hit .288 with 29 home runs and 92 RBIs for the Oakland, while Wilson impressed everyone with a .295 average, 15 homers, 31 doubles, and stellar defense in his first season. On the other hand, Red Sox rookie Roman Anthony, whose season was limited due to injury, batted .276 with 24 homers, 82 RBIs, and an .843 OPS. Anthony displayed great maturity during the season, and his story of getting back on track after a few struggles, with the help of veteran leader Alex Bregman, is well known in the league. And Drake Baldwin is the only Braves player who cleared that final best of the 3 list before the winners’ announcement this season in the NL Rookie of the Year award category. The Acuna Jr.’s teammate batted .289 with 22 home runs, 76 RBIs, and a .510 slugging percentage to get his name in this list. Baldwin has to be the best among the Brewers, Caleb Durbin, and the Cubs, Cade Horton, to win that award. Durbin is a versatile player who had a .304 average with 18 homers, 42 stolen bases, and an .850 OPS. And Horton posted a 2.84 ERA, 138 strikeouts in 142 innings in his rookie first season in the big league. The 2025 MLB season delivered drama, dominance, and unforgettable performances. From Ohtani’s brilliance to Raleigh’s power and Yamamoto’s rise, the year showcased baseball at its best. As awards week nears, voters face tough choices between history and performance — ensuring the 2025 MLB Awards will cap a season fans won’t forget.
