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2020 MLB awards picks: Freddie Freeman vs. Mookie
Betts for MVP; a third straight Cy Young for Jacob deGrom?
By Mike Axisa 17 hrs ago • 8 min read
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The abbreviated 2020 MLB season is complete and the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series
champions. They defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in six games to clinch their first title since 1988.
Now that the o season is underway, here are the important dates you need to know for the winter.
Despite the short season, MLB and the Baseball Writers Association of America will hand out their
major awards for each league.
The awards will be announced Nov. 9-12. It'll be Rookies of the Year on Nov. 9, Managers of the Year
on Nov. 10, Cy Youngs on Nov. 11, and MVPs on Nov. 12. The winners will be revealed during a live
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MLB Network broadcast. The finalists have been announced, and voting for each award took place
before the postseason.
Before the BBWAA reveals their winners, we here at CBS Sports will reveal our award winners. To
hand out our season awards, our five CBS Sports MLB scribes (R.J. Anderson, Katherine Acquavella,
Mike Axisa, Dayn Perry, Matt Snyder) each cast a hypothetical ballot for each award. Our rules:
Our individual ballots for each award were only three names deep. In reality, the MVP ballot is 10 players
deep and the Cy Young ballot is five players deep. Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year each
includes three slots.
The scoring system: Three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, and one point
for a third-place vote. Most points wins. Nice and easy.
Here are our 2020 end-of-season award voting results for the MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie and
Manager of the Year in each league, with a short explanation. Let's get to it.
AL MVP: Jose Abreu, White Sox
In a short 60-game season, more nuance is required from MVP voters. The sample isn't big enough
to rely on WAR (not that they should rely on WAR exclusively anyway), and the context of regional
play is important. Players did not face the same caliber of competition, not even close, and that
undoubtedly impacted their performance.
Abreu is our AL MVP because he was the best player on an upstart White Sox team that reached
the postseason for the first time since 2008. That the ChiSox limped to the finish and were the No.
7 seed rather than the No. 4 seed may hurt him among BBWAA voters, but it didn't in our vote.
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1ST PLACE 2ND PLACE 3RD PLACE POINTS
Jose Abreu, White Sox 4 1 14
DJ LeMahieu, Yankees 1 4 6
Jose Ramirez, Cleveland 1 1 4
Mike Trout, Angels 2 4
Shane Bieber, Cleveland 1 2
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LeMahieu's steady excellence earns him the second-place finish ahead of Ramirez, who was the
best player on the team that finished ahead of Abreu's team. Ramirez was dynamite down the
stretch.
NL MVP: Freddie Freeman, Braves
It's a two-horse race for NL MVP. Betts led baseball in WAR but Freeman was the best hitter in the
league not named Juan Soto, and he was outrageously clutch. His 3.17 win probability added was
the highest in baseball. Only one other player was over 2.50. The best player on a division winner
will never look out of place in the MVP voting. Mookie having so much value tied up in his glove
hurts him a bit. MVP voting tends to reward more reliable o ensive stats.
For much of the season Tatis was the clear frontrunner for NL MVP, but his September slump
pushed him out of the running. Machado outproduced Tatis in many respects this year and would
be a fine third-place choice. The NL MVP race comes down to Freeman or Betts. This could be the
closest NL MVP vote since Giancarlo Stanton finished two points -- two points! -- ahead of Joey
Votto in 2017.
AL Cy Young: Shane Bieber, Cleveland
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1ST PLACE 2ND PLACE 3RD PLACE POINTS
Freddie Freeman, Braves 3 2 13
Mookie Betts, Dodgers 2 3 12
Fernando Tatis Jr., Padres 4 4
Manny Machado, Padres 1 1
1ST PLACE 2ND PLACE 3RD PLACE POINTS
Shane Bieber, Cleveland 5 15
Gerrit Cole, Yankees 2 2 6
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This is a race for second place. Bieber should win the AL Cy Young award unanimously. He led all
pitchers -- not just American Leaguers -- in WAR, ERA, ERA+, wins, strikeouts, and win probability,
among other things. Also, Baseball Prospectus' Deserved Run Average stat says Bieber was the
best starter in the game even after adjusting for the relatively weak competition he faced in the
Central region. Bieber is going to win the AL Cy Young award. This is a no-brainer.
In our voting, Cole narrowly edges out Ryu for second place, though Maeda isn't far behind. Lance
Lynn deserves a mention here as well, even though he did not appear on any of our ballots. The
fact guys like Chris Bassitt and Zach Plesac threw so many fewer innings than the league leaders
is going to hurt their case (Plesac threw fewer innings because of his own stupidity, of course).
The race for second place is wide open here. That's all it is though. A race for runner-up. Bieber
has the AL Cy Young in the bag.
NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom, Mets
DeGrom is trying to become the third pitcher in history to win three straight Cy Young awards,
joining Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux, who each won four straight. In a season
this short, the NL Cy Young vote could come down to deGrom allowing three runs in five innings in
his final start, giving him a 2.38 ERA to finish the season. It had been under 2.00 much of the year.
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Hyun-Jin Ryu, Blue Jays 2 1 5
Kenta Maeda, Twins 1 1 3
Framber Valdez, Astros 1 1
1ST PLACE 2ND PLACE 3RD PLACE POINTS
Jacob deGrom, Mets 2 2 1 11
Trevor Bauer, Reds 1 3 1 10
Yu Darvish, Cubs 1 3 6
Aaron Nola, Phillies 1 3
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