When there is no wrong answer, does that mean there is no right one, as well? Or at least none that will satisfy everyone.
A strong AL MVP case — in our annual midseason awards — can be made for Aaron Judge, Juan Soto, Gunnar Henderson, Bobby Witt Jr. and perhaps Jose Ramirez. Without injury denting their season, Steven Kwan and Kyle Tucker would be in the conversation, perhaps Royce Lewis too.
The AL is not hurting for brilliant performances so far this year. I see your Jarren Duran and raise you Riley Greene and Carlos Correa.
For most of this first half, I have thought that Witt was the MVP for the combination of terrific stats, doing it without the help of a supporting cast as deep as the Yankees and Orioles, and not only being the best defender among the most obvious candidates, but maybe in the sport (Fangraphs has him as the top fielder by its metrics).
My initial hedge away from Witt was toward Soto because his stats also are splendid — particularly his clutch stats — and he had been such a transformational figure in the Yankees lineup.
But as the first half has progressed it just has become overt that this is about Henderson vs. Judge. Their value is incredible, and they are having the best seasons in the majors.
I think the correct answer is Henderson, because as opposed to Judge, who struggled the first few weeks, it feels as if Henderson hasn’t even had a bad game this year. And because Henderson at shortstop plays a more valuable position, though Judge’s ability to man center field — as he did for a lot of his historic 2022 — has been deeply valuable to the Yankees.
But this is trying to find the gap between millimeters. Judge has basically been playing a different sport than everyone else since late April. He is somehow a better overall hitter than in 2022, which was among the best offensive seasons ever. He began the weekend with a .701 slugging percentage, and no qualified hitter has been over .700 since Barry Bonds in 2004.
Henderson is Corey Seager’s hitting profile combined with Dustin Pedroia’s zeal, now add high-level shortstop defense and speed good enough to make him 13-of-14 in steals. He was on a 50-plus homer pace. Alex Rodriguez is the only shortstop ever to top 50. He led the majors in Wins Above Replacement, and of course Judge was just behind him. It is that close. Pick one, pick the other. They both are right.
2. Aaron Judge, Yankees. 3. Bobby Witt Jr., Royals. 4. Juan Soto, Yankees. 5. Jose Ramirez, Guardians.
AL Anti-MVP
Jose Abreu, formerly Astros
Offense has been so down again that it is not hard to find candidates. I thought seriously of having DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres share this or Toronto’s Bo Bichette and George Springer. But Abreu was so bad that the Astros first sent the 2020 AL MVP to the minors then released him with about $30 million still due to Abreu through next year.
Abreu’s .361 OPS this season was the worst by a non-pitcher or catcher with at least 120 plate appearances since Dwain Anderson’s .353 in 1973.
2. DJ LeMahieu/Anthony Rizzo/Gleyber Torres, Yankees. 3. Javier Barez/Spencer Torkelson, Tigers. 4. Bo Bichette/George Springer, Blue Jays. 5. Andrew Benintendi/Martin Maldonado, White Sox.
NL MVP
Bryce Harper, Phillies
No full-time designated hitter has ever won a MVP — the closest was when Don Baylor started at DH 65 times in 1979. Shohei Ohtani won twice while serving as a DH, but also a starting pitcher. This year Ohtani is in position (no pun intended) to be the first position-less non-pitcher to win. His numbers are outrageous. Ohtani joins Henderson and Ramirez as the only major leaguers with 20-plus homers and 10-plus steals — Ohtani was 25/16 going into the weekend along with a 1.045 OPS.
And Ohtani’s value only rises as he continues to rake with the absence of Mookie Betts, who was likely the NL MVP front-runner before fracturing his left hand on June 16 and being lost for 6-8 weeks. Plus, Ohtani probably will become the frontrunner unquestioned moving forward because Harper (hamstring) was placed on the IL on Friday.
But this is a half-season award, and Harper has 20 homers and a .981 OPS (second in the NL to Ohtani) while playing first base. And there was this: Harper’s OPS with runners in scoring position this year was 1.406. The next best among those with at least 75 plate appearances in such situations was Soto at 1.179.
Remember how Bonds in 2004 was the last player with a .700-plus slugging percentage over a full season? Bonds’ OPS that year with runners in scoring position was 1.698 helped greatly by being intentionally walked 90 times in such situations. That was the last time someone had a higher OPS over a full season than Harper has now. Ohtani’s runner-in-scoring-position OPS was .688.
Besides Betts and Harper being hurt, the field has cleared a lot for Ohtani. The 2023 NL MVP winner Ronald Acuna Jr. is out for the season, and his Braves teammates Matt Olson and Austin Riley are down considerably from last season, as is Arizona’s Corbin Carroll. And Soto was traded to the AL.
2. Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers. 3. Mookie Betts, Dodgers. 4. Ketel Marte, Diamondbacks. 5. Jurickson Profar, Padres.
NL Anti-MVP
Nolan Arenado/Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals
There are players having worse seasons than the Cardinals’ corner infielders. But if they were close to who they were in 2022 when Goldschmidt won the NL MVP and Arenado finished second, St. Louis would likely lead the NL Central. Manny Machado, who finished between Goldschmidt and Arenado in 2022, was having a disappointing first half until awakening recently.
2. Corbin Carroll, D’backs. 3. Jeff McNeil, Mets. 4. Kris Bryant, Rockies. 5. Manny Machado, Padres.
AL Cy Young
Tarik Skubal, Tigers
The Detroit lefty began the weekend fourth in the AL in ERA, second in WHIP and fifth in strikeout percentage.
There have been Cys won out of the two Central divisions — especially when teams were playing 19 games against each division foe — when you could see them capitalizing on having lots of weak opponents.
Among those who had made at least five starts against the top 10 scoring teams, though, Skubal’s 0.88 ERA was the best in the majors, followed by the 1.88 of Atlanta’s Chris Sale.
A special nod to Kansas City’s Seth Lugo, who the Mets wondered about having the endurance to be a starter. He is leading the AL in innings pitched — and is third in ERA.
2. Corbin Burnes, Orioles 3. Tanner Houck, Red Sox. 4. Seth Lugo, Royals. 5. Logan Gilbert, Mariners.
AL Anti-Cy Young
Pablo Lopez, Twins
He went into his start Saturday in Seattle coming off one of the best starts by anybody this year — eight shutout innings with 14 strikeouts against the A’s. But his overall performance is far down from his ability — a 5.11 ERA (second worst in the AL among qualifiers) with 16 homers allowed (well on the way to usurping his career-worst of 24).
2. Kenta Maeda, Tigers. 3. Kevin Gausman, Blue Jays. 4 Triston McKenzie, Guardians. 5. Aaron Civale, Rays.
NL Cy Young
Ranger Suarez, Phillies
Really, the answer here should be the Phillies foursome of Suarez, Aaron Nola, Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler.
Consider that Suarez, Sanchez and Wheeler were first, second and third in NL ERA with Atlanta’s Reynaldo Lopez falling under the innings qualification. Wheeler and Nola were 2-3 in innings and Suarez was fifth. Suarez was second in WHIP, Wheeler fifth and Nola sixth.
And a Phillie starter had gone seven innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs 24 times. The next most was 17 by the Mariners. The next most in the NL was the 15 of the Braves. Wheeler had done it seven times, Nola six, Sanchez and Suarez five times each. As a team, for example, the Mets had done it just five times.
And a Phillies starter had gone seven innings and allowed two or fewer earned runs 23 times. The next most was 17 by the Mariners. The next most in the NL was the 15 of the Braves. Wheeler had done it seven times, Nola six, Suarez five and Sanchez four. Consider, for example, the Mets had five as a team.
The Dodgers (Tyler Glasnow) and the Braves (Sale) both made offseason trades for talented, both oft-injured pitchers, but both have been durable (Glasnow is fourth in the NL in innings) and superb.
2. Tyler Glasnow, Dodgers. 3. Chris Sale, Braves. 4. Zack Wheeler, Phillies. 5. Logan Webb, Giants.
NL Anti-Cy Young
Blake Snell, Giants
His partner in signing late and missing most of spring training, Jordan Montgomery, at least has some good games sprinkled into his 13 starts and 6.03 ERA. Snell has more IL stints (two) than starts in which he completed five innings (zero). The defending NL Cy Young winner had a 9.51 ERA in six starts.
Snell and Montgomery had to do a lot of bad work to keep this from being Edwin Diaz — who had four blown saves in May, temporarily lost his closer role and was suspended for having an illegal sticky substance on the mound.
2. Jordan Montgomery, D’backs. 3. Edwin Diaz, Mets. 4. Walker Buehler, Dodgers. 5. Joe Musgrove, Padres.
AL Rookie of the Year
Luis Gil, Yankees
He barely hung on to this over Oakland closer Mason Miller, and his past few starts do not bode well as a harbinger to holding onto this for the season. Still, the overall body of work, which even with the two poor starts, includes a .169 batting average against and a 28 percent strikeout rate, is impressive.
One reason the Red Sox are in contention is the contributions from a rookie contingent of Wilyer Abreu, David Hamilton, Ceddanne Rafaela, Cooper Criswell and Justin Slaten. And a reason why the Guardians led the AL Central was because the rookie set-up duo of Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith had combined for 75 games, a 1.70 ERA and a 083 WHIP.
2. Mason Miller, A’s. 3. Colton Cowser, Orioles. 4. Wilyer Abreu, Red Sox. 5. Hunter Gaddis/Cade Smith, Guardians.
NL Rookie of the Year
Jackson Merrill, Padres
The NL is so much more loaded in this category than the AL, particularly among starting pitchers with Kyle Harrison, Shota Imanaga, Jared Jones, Tobias Myers, Mitchell Parker, Gavin Stone and Yoshinobu Yamamoto having sensational seasons. Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes did not make his debut until May 8, but my suspicion is he has been so dominant that if he stays healthy, he will win this award in the end. But in an age when it is tough to hit, I am leaning toward the new players who have provided some bat work.
In the case of Merrill, he was viewed as the third-best prospect named Jackson, but he has outperformed Baltimore’s Jackson Holliday and Milwaukee’s Jackson Chourio. Merrill, a natural shortstop, has delivered in center field after learning the position on the fly (again no pun intended) in spring training. But combined with the starters, Milwaukee reliever Bryan Hudson, Brewers infielder Joey Ortiz, Cubs first baseman Michael Busch and Cardinals shortstop Masyn Winn, there are 10-12 legitimate candidates to try to shoehorn into five spots.
2. Masyn Winn, Cardinals. 3. Gavin Stone, Dodgers. 4. Joey Ortiz, Brewers. 5. Bryan Hudson, Brewers.