2018 MLB Awards Picks

National League

MVP

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Yelich	Yelich	deGrom	Yelich	Yelich	Yelich
2	Rendon	Carpenter	Yelich	Arenado	Freeman	Arenado
3	Arenado	Rendon	Arenado	Carpenter	Story	deGrom

Breakout star Christian Yelich took first place pretty easily here, except for Mojo, who thought Jacob deGrom’s historic season was enough to earn him MVP nods. After that was a bit of a mix, with Anthony Rendon, Nolan Arenado, Matt Carpenter, Trevor Story, and Freddie Freeman all receiving votes.

Cy Young

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	deGrom	deGrom	deGrom	deGrom	deGrom	deGrom
2	Nola	Scherzer	Scherzer	Scherzer	Nola	Scherzer
3	Scherzer	Corbin	Nola	Nola	Scherzer	Nola

With Jacob deGrom dominating the league with his 1.70 ERA, The K Zone members were easily able to overlook his 10-9 record, as he received unanimous first-place votes. Everyone had Max Scherzer and Aaron Nola as their second and third picks, except for Ian, who was not as impressed with Nola and instead snuck in a vote for Patrick Corbin and his 2.47 FIP.

Rookie of the Year

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Soto	Acuna	Soto	Acuna	Acuna	Acuna
2	Buehler	Soto	Acuna	Buehler	Soto	Soto
3	Acuna	Buehler	Buehler	Soto	Buehler	Buehler

All of The K Zone writers had the same three rookies, but in various orders. Ultimately, Ronald Acuna edged out Juan Soto for first place, while Walker Buehler sat comfortably in third. Buehler was spectacular in his own right; in a different year, his 2.62 ERA and 9.90 K/9 may have won him the award.

Manager of the Year

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Counsell	Counsell	Counsell	Snitker	Snitker	Counsell
2	Snitker	Snitker	Black	Counsell	Counsell	Snitker
3	Kapler	Black	Snitker	Black	Black	Black

There wasn’t a whole lot of controversy on this award. It was the same three managers for all five writers, with three of them putting Craig Counsell and the other two putting Brian Snitker, with the exception of Mike, who was impressed with the job done by the Phillies’ Gabe Kapler.

American League

MVP

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Trout	Trout	Trout	Betts	Trout	Trout
2	Betts	Betts	Betts	Trout	Betts	Betts
3	Ramirez	Ramirez	Ramirez	Ramirez	Ramirez	Ramirez

This award was the least controversial out of them all among The K Zone staff. Each writer’s ballot was identical, with the one exception of Maddie putting Mookie Betts ahead of Mike Trout for first place. Trout and Betts were the clear top two, and all five writers agreed that Jose Ramirez’s season-ending slump wasn’t enough to offset the terrific season he had overall on offense and defense.

Cy Young

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Snell	Verlander	Snell	Snell	Snell	Snell
2	Verlander	Sale	Verlander	Sale	Verlander	Verlander
3	Cole	Cole	Sale	Verlander	Cole	Sale

Most of the voters were all about Blake Snell and his league-leading 1.89 ERA, not to mention his 11.01 K/9, but Ian wasn’t as impressed, as he left Snell completely out of his top three. Chris Sale likely would have won this award in a landslide if he had the same stats over more innings, but the lack of innings pushed him down a spot or more on every writer’s list. While Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole also had very strong years, it was surprising to see that not one writer voted for Trevor Bauer, who had the second lowest qualified ERA and FIP in the AL. Snell’s sub-2 ERA ended up getting him the win pretty easily, while Verlander’s advantage in innings put him over the edge against Sale’s pure dominance.

Rookie of the Year

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Andujar	Andujar	Ohtani	Ohtani	Ohtani	Ohtani
2	Ohtani	Torres	Wendle	Andujar	Andujar	Andujar
3	Torres	Bieber	Andujar	Torres	Torres	Torres

Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese hitting and pitching superstar, did something that nobody had done since Babe Ruth, and while his innings were severely limited due to injury, the overall body of work and top-tier hitting were extremely impressive. At least, four of the writers seemed to think so. Ian chose to leave Ohtani out of his top three, and instead put the under-the-radar Indians pitcher Shane Bieber, who had a mediocre 4.55 ERA but strong peripherals. Mojo, valuing defense more than the other writers, also went with an under-the-radar pick in putting Joey Wendle second. Everyone agreed on putting Andujar ahead of Torres, but Ohtani and Andujar were neck-and-neck for first place despite their very different cases for the award and styles of play.

Manager of the Year

	Mike	Ian	Mojo	Maddie	Jack	The K Zone Official Ranking
1	Cash	Melvin	Cash	Cora	Melvin	Cash
2	Cora	Cash	Melvin	Cash	Cash	Melvin
3	Melvin	Cora	Cora	Melvin	Hinch	Cora

For this award, the popular picks were two managers who led underdog teams to great seasons along with the manager of the team with the best record in baseball who eventually went on to win the World Series. The only exception was Jack, who thought A.J. Hinch did a good job with the Astros, and was not as impressed with Cora, who ended up coming in third behind the two underdogs. Kevin Cash won, as his unique bullpen management and quirky decision-making skills helped a Rays team lacking in talent to win 90 games.