It’s not a long season, but it’s certainly a part of the MLB calendar and tradition. The finalists have been announced for the major awards, and the gold glove winners have already been set in stone. Our own Masyn Winn deservedly won the Gold Glove for 2025, so I will move on from that category, and speak of the unannounced.
NL MVP Finalists
Ohtani, Schwarber, Soto
- -Ohtani: 7.7 bWAR, 7.5 fWAR, 55 HR, .392 OBP, 172 wRC+, +47 IP at 2.87 ERA (not sure if he has 7.5 or 9.4 fWAR because of his 1.9 fWAR whilst pitching)
- -Schwarber: 4.7 bWAR, 4.9 fWAR, 56 HR, .365 OBP, 152 wRC+
- -Soto: 6.2 bWAR, 5.8 fWAR, 43 HR, .396 OBP, 156 wRC+
The first thing to notice is that the MVP is quite clearly anti-defense this year, unless you want to say Ohtani’s pitching makes up for his defensive shortcomings. Which they do so I’ll just move on from that. What’s obvious is how much Arizona’s Perdomo and Schwarber’s teammate Trey Turner got shafted because I guess they aren’t obvious MVP finalists? Picking Schwarber and Soto sort of feels politically motivated, as far as baseball politics go. Which is to say, put a couple other big names to go up against the biggest name on the board, Shohei.
I can sort of see why they’re there, Schwarber is a monster home run hitter, and Soto has some form of preternatural ability to get on base, since they both narrowly did it more than Ohtani. But Shohei hit about as many home runs as Kyle and almost got on base as much as Juan, so he’s like if you put the two together and made the player a really good pitcher too.
One can bring up Perdomo, Turner, Corbin Carroll all around gamer types, but none of them were as good as Shohei Ohtani. So there’s your obvious MVP, we are just going through the motions with the “finalists” announced.
Also how ridiculous is it having Schwarber over Turner, considering they’re both on the same really good team and Kyle Schwarber is just a freakin’ DH…
…also Lindor of the Mets was a better pick than Soto! if you must focus on the East.
AL MVP Finalists
Judge, Raleigh, Ramirez
- Judge: 9.7 bWAR, 10.1 fWAR, 53 HR, .457 OBP, 204 wRC+
- Raleigh: 7.4 bWAR, 9.1 fWAR, 60 HR, .359 OBP, 161 wRC+
- Ramirez: 5.8 bWAR, 6.3 fWAR, 30 HR, .360 OBP, 133 wRC+
Well it’s really just more about Judge vs Raleigh, at first I wasn’t sure why Ramirez was in the running but there’s just a big drop off at each of the top 5 in WAR. But, Bobby Witt Jr would’ve been a better candidate. He’s just too stuck in the midwest (or is that great plains?) and too good at defense to be in the running here. Ramirez wasn’t actually a bad candidate.
Who should win? This is a good time to remember that the MVP is sort of a “creative” choice. Whatever feels right that year, not too long after the regular season has commenced… but still more than a month of time to think (plus whatever effect the postseason has on it). The aforementioned “baseball politics” which is a blend of popularity and location, of course also comes into play.
Personally, I would get creative with it this year and give it to Cal Raleigh because he’s also a pretty darned good catcher, and witnessing a catcher hit 60 runs is just practically unheard of. The gut wants Raleigh to win. And the novelty of baseball history wants him to win.
But from a pure evaluation standpoint, you probably have to go with Judge’s monster season, even if it wasn’t quite as good as the season before. This constant goodness (ok ok, eliteness) probably somewhat hurts the MVP narrative for Judge. And we all saw that the Mariners went further into the postseason, which can only help Raleigh. That said, Judge’s season was just better in reality. Aaron Judge is next level, what can we say.
Take your pick between Ramirez and Bobby Witt Jr for the bronze. And if you are looking for a pure, experienced veteran hitter, George Springer made it to the world series and had a 166 wRC+ in 2025. As far as Judge vs Raleigh, you can’t go wrong either way. Heart vs brain type of thing?
NL Cy Young Award Finalists
Sanchez, Skenes, Yamamoto
- Sanchez: 8 bWAR, 6.4 fWAR, 202 IP, 2.50 ERA, 2.55 FIP, 2.77 xFIP, 1.064 WHIP
- Skenes: 7.7 bWAR, 6.5 fWAR, 187.2 IP, 1.97 ERA, 2.36 FIP, 3.03 xFIP, .948 WHIP
- Yamamoto: 4.9 bWAR, 173.2 IP, 2.49 ERA, 2.94 FIP, 3.05 xFIP, .99 WHIP
Christopher Sanchez is your guy if you want innings ate at your best xFIP rate. Skenes is your pick if you want the hitters not to hit a lick. As for Yamamoto, if he wins it would appear to be largely effected by the postseason and the momentum of the times. I don’t think I can decide who should win the Cy Young Award between Sanchez and Skenes. Paul’s 5.14 K/BB ratio is better than Christopher’s 4.82, but Yamamoto’s K/9 is the highest at 10.5. You cannot really go wrong here, pick your poison.
That said, I’m going to pick Sanchez because it’s a rarity to crack 200 IP in 2025, with his ERA and FIP lining up well, and the best xFIP of the bunch… but, I think it’s much more likely to go to either Skenes or maybe Yamamoto if they’re letting his most recent performance affect the outcome.
You also have to mention the amazing seasons had by Logan Webb and Jesus Luzardo. Webb had the most innings pitched, while Luzardo strikes mf’ers out! Even more than Yamamoto and Skenes.
AL Cy Young Award Finalists
Brown, Crochet, Skubal
- Brown: 6.1 bWAR, 4.6 fWAR, 185.1 IP, 2.43 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 3.19 xFIP, 1.025 WHIP
- Crochet: 6.3 bWAR, 5.8 fWAR, 205.1 IP, 2.59 ERA, 2.89 FIP, 2.64 xFIP, 1.028 WHIP
- Skubal: 6.5 bWAR, 6.6 fWAR, 195.1 IP, 2.21 ERA, 2.45 FIP, 2.66 xFIP, .891 WHIP
This is a tight race! Between Crochet and Skubal. If you want to include Hunter Brown, please also consider Max Fried. Did you know that there has been two Hunters of different colors (Brown, Greene) playing in MLB from 2022-2025? How weird is that!
Actually, I don’t really have to think about this one much. Tarik Skubal better walk away with the award here! To back up that statline listed above, he also had a 7.3 K/BB ratio! Magnificent.
NL Rookie of the Year Award Finalists
Drake Baldwin, Caleb Durbin, Cade Horton
- Baldwin: 3.3 bWAR, 3.1 fWAR, 19 HR, .341 OBP, 125 wRC+
- Durbin: 2.8 bWAR, 2.6 fWAR, 11 HR, .334 OBP, 105 wRC+
- Horton: 2 bWAR, 2.2 fWAR, 118 IP, 2.67 ERA, 3.58 FIP, 4.27 xFIP
Luckily I don’t have to vote for a Cub or Brewer here, and picking Drake Baldwin as NL Rookie of the Year. Also Baldwin is a catcher, so that’s pretty cool. Durbin is a glove first third baseman, and while the Cubs might have a good rotation arm in Horton, he just didn’t pitch a whole lot of innings and his xFIP sure should be a concern.
Please let me know if they forgot any superb rookie seasons! Baldwin should take this home as far as I can tell.
AL Rookie of the Year Award Finalists
Roman Anthony, Nick Kurtz, Jacob Wilson
- Anthony: 3.1 bWAR, 2.7 fWAR, 8 HR, .396 OBP, 140 wRC+
- Kurtz: 5.4 bWAR, 4.6 fWAR, 36 HR, .383 OBP, 170 wRC+
- Wilson: 3 bWAR, 3.5 fWAR, 13 HR, .355 OBP, 121 wRC+
It’s totally unfair to go up against Kurtz during his rookie season. Or maybe any season. It’s like he entered his prime from the get go. It’s really no contest. Nick Kurtz is the AL rookie of the year. And wow, the A’s have drafted nicely with two rookie of the year finalists! That’s a nice little foundation to build upon, even if homeless.
The only better defensive shortstop in the game in 2025 than Masyn Winn was Bobby Witt Jr. Missouri havin’ those elite shortstops! Now if Winn can just start hitting more.
By Fielding Run Value (FRV) Winn was better than other top tier NL defenders Nick Allen, Trea Turner, Joey Ortiz, and Xander Bogaerts! Betts whom many claimed was the obvious gold glove winner, was tied with 5 others players for 14th place in fielding run value. Masyn Winn is the rangiest shortstop in the National League, 2nd most in MLB, and has one of the best arms making him a deadly defender and obvious Gold Glove winner!