Yankees' Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Mets' Francisco Lindor finalists for MVP awards
The Yankees’ Aaron Judge rounds the bases on his two-run home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the first inning in Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Oct. 30. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Baseball’s awards week will have a certain New York flavor.
The Mets and Yankees combine for six finalists for the eight major awards, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America announced on Monday night. Headlining the group are Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, two of the three finalists for American League MVP, and Francisco Lindor, among a group of three in consideration for National League MVP.
Additionally, the Mets’ Carlos Mendoza is up for NL Manager of the Year. And the Yankees’ Luis Gil and Austin Wells are finalists for AL Rookie of the Year.
Those honors plus the Cy Young Awards are voted on by members of the BBWAA. Ballots were cast before the start of the postseason. The winners will be announced next Monday (Rookie of the Year), Tuesday (Manager of the Year), Wednesday (Cy Young) and Thursday (MVP) at 6 p.m. on MLB Network.
Of the local bunch, the guy with the best chance to win is Judge, the heavy favorite to win his second MVP award. His and Soto’s other competition: Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals. Judge led the majors in home runs (58), RBIs (144), OBP (.458) and slugging percentage (1.159), so he may well be a unanimous choice or close to it.
With the NL MVP, though, the Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani is a near-lock over Lindor and the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte. He posted the first 50-homer/50-steal season in major-league history, which almost certainly was enough to top Lindor’s excellent season: 33 homers, 91 RBIs, .273 average and .844 OPS — plus high-end defense, which Ohtani, as a DH, did not provide.
In the NL Manager of the Year race, the Brewers’ Pat Murphy and Padres’ Mike Shildt are candidates alongside Mendoza.
For AL Rookie of the Year, Gil and Wells are up against Colton Cowser of the Orioles.
Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.
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