MLB awards: How MVP, Cy Young, Manager/Rookie of the Year winners are decided
Aaron Judge #99 of the Yankees follows through on his seventh inning two run home run against the Cleveland Guardians in game two of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Welcome to baseball’s awards week, which this year is partially a celebration of the Yankees and Mets.
At this still-early stage of the offseason, with little actual transactional news to discuss, the fun stuff is one last look back at 2024, with the winners of the major awards announced over the coming days. The local teams have a real shot to win a couple of them, too, since the Mets and Yankees combined for six finalists for the eight honors.
Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are candidates for American League MVP. Francisco Lindor is up for National League MVP. Carlos Mendoza might be named NL Manager of the Year. And Luis Gil or Austin Wells could become AL Rookie of the Year.
With such a New York flare, here we offer a look at how the major annual awards are decided.
What are the major awards?
MVP, the Cy Young Award for best pitcher, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. Four awards in two leagues makes for eight total.
How does MLB decide who wins?
Trick question: MLB doesn’t decide.
These honors are handed out by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, whose members vote. That has been the case for MVP since 1931, with other awards created in 1947 (Rookie), 1956 (Cy Young) and 1983 (Manager).
How many voters are there?
Each award has a voting committee of 30 — two writers representing each of the 15 cities in that league.
Two writers from New York were assigned to cast a ballot for AL MVP, for example, as were two from Baltimore, two from Boston, two from Minnesota, two from Seattle and so on in all of the AL markets.
The same process played out with voters from New York, Washington, Miami, San Diego, Pittsburgh, etc., for NL MVP.
Rinse, wash, repeat for the pitcher, rookie and manager honors.
Which BBWAA members vote?
Traveling beat writers usually fill most of the eight voting spots in a given market. Columnists, backup writers and national writers also sometimes are chosen.
Writers are selected as voters by the local chapter chairman and approved by the national BBWAA secretary-treasurer. Voters typically are informed of their assignment by mid-August.
How deep are the ballots?
MVP ballots include 10 spots. That is how you get, say, Starling Marte officially finishing 19th in NL MVP voting in 2022, with one 10th-place nod.
For Cy Young, there are five slots. For Manager and Rookie of the Year, three.
When does voting happen?
Ballots are cast before the postseason. These are regular-season awards. Stuff from the playoffs impacts neither the candidates’ cases nor the voters’ thought processes.
So Lindor’s NLDS-winning grand slam, for example, doesn’t matter in this context. Nor does Shohei Ohtani’s quiet, injury-marred World Series for the Dodgers. Nor Mendoza outwitting Pat Murphy at every turn in the Mets-Brewers Wild Card Series.
Who are the finalists this year?
AL MVP: Judge, Soto, Bobby Witt Jr. (Royals).
NL MVP: Lindor, Ketel Marte (Diamondbacks), Ohtani.
AL Cy Young: Emmanuel Clase (Cleveland), Seth Lugo (Royals), Tarik Skubal (Tigers).
NL Cy Young: Chris Sale (Atlanta), Paul Skenes (Pirates), Zack Wheeler (Phillies).
AL Rookie: Colton Cowser (Orioles), Gil, Wells.
NL Rookie: Jackson Chourio (Brewers), Jackson Merrill (Padres), Skenes.
AL Manager: A.J. Hinch (Tigers), Matt Quatraro (Royals), Stephen Vogt (Guardians).
NL Manager: Mendoza, Murphy, Mike Shildt (Padres).
What happens after finalists are announced?
Nothing. There is no additional round of voting. Finalists are simply the top three vote-getters in each category.
When are the winners announced?
Each of the next four days, in hourlong broadcasts on MLB Network beginning at 6 p.m.
Rookie of the Year: Monday.
Manager of the Year: Tuesday.
Cy Young: Wednesday.
MVP: Thursday.
What about the rest of the results?
In the interest of transparency, the BBWAA posts to its website — bbwaa.com — the full results as soon as the winner is revealed. That includes the names of voters, the outlets they work for and their full ballots.
Voters are instructed not to reveal their ballots prior to the announcement — unlike with Hall of Fame voting, marked by lots of discussion and the slow drip of ballot reveals.
Wait, so what about Hall of Fame voting?
That’s a whole other thing. That, too, is done by BBWAA members, but only those with at least 10 years of active membership — in theory, ensuring those voting are those who chronicled and watched up close the careers of players on the ballot.
And what about Gold Gloves and Silver Sluggers?
That’s different, too. Those defensive and offensive honors are voted on by managers and coaches (with advanced statistics factoring into the Gold Glove decisions).
Back to the major awards. Are the New York guys actually going to win?
Judge, with one of the best offensive seasons in recent memory, is a virtual lock for AL MVP.
Lindor, with maybe the best offensive season in Mets history, is a longshot to beat Ohtani, who with 54 home runs and 59 steals compiled the first 50-50 season ever.
AL Rookie of the Year and NL Manager of the Year are too close to call. Gil, Wells and Mendoza have strong cases for their respective awards.
What does Valuable mean, anyway?
Value is in the eye of the beholder. Modern voters tend to lean toward making MVP a “best player” or “best season” award, as opposed to splitting hairs on what makes a player valuable (in a sport in which the best player doesn’t have nearly the same amount of influence on his team’s success as, say, the best player in the NBA or NFL).
The ballot instructions sent to MVP voters include the following language: “There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier.”
And: “Keep in mind that all players are eligible for MVP, including pitchers and designated hitters.”
The NL MVP debate this year has centered around Lindor’s excellent season at the plate and high-end defense at a key position, as well his leadership for a team that turned its season around and made the postseason. Ohtani, conversely, was limited to DH duty (because of elbow surgery a year ago), so he didn’t contribute in the intangible ways Lindor did.
However, historically and recently, all-time great accomplishments tend to win out with voters, hence Ohtani being the heavy favorite.
How is Manager of the Year decided?
This is often the trickiest award to vote for, especially in an era in which front offices have significant influence on lineup construction and in-game decision-making.
There are no stats that capture a manager’s influence or effectiveness, so a lot of times this becomes a “well, which team most outperformed expectations?” award. That’s why Murphy may well win, having led the Brewers to another division title in a year in which their roster looked much worse. Mendoza’s Mets and Shildt’s Padres also showed significant improvement, of course.
Coincidentally, the past two NL winners — Buck Showalter and Skip Schumaker — won in their first year in that job and went on to manage that team for just one more season.
Was Mark Vientos eligible for NL Rookie of the Year?
He was not. A player loses his rookie eligibility after the season in which he reaches 130 at-bats, 45 innings pitched or 45 days on the active roster (not counting time on the injured list). So even though this felt like Vientos’ first real season — and in many ways was — he exceeded the rookie limits in 2023.
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.
