MLB Awards: Staff picks for MVP, Cy Young, ROY

With the playoffs set to kick off, theScore's MLB editors - Jonah Birenbaum, Bryan Mcwilliam, Dan Toman, Greg Warren, and Brandon Wile - turned in their virtual ballots for the major awards of the regular season. Here are their picks for MVP, Cy Young, and the league's best rookies and managers:

AL MVP

This year's AL MVP debate isn't quite as spirited as the Miguel Cabrera vs. Mike Trout vote, but there's a point to be made that it's actually a closer race. More than any other award this season, the AL MVP comes down to personal preference and statistical interpretation, because the numbers themselves aren't much different. Trout separated himself from Josh Donaldson in the pillars of advanced metrics down the stretch - weighted OBP, park-adjusted runs, and OPS - but it was Toronto's third baseman who stole headlines with his clutch hitting and traditional run-producing stats like RBIs and runs scored. Flanked by at least one, and possibly two, MVP candidates, Donaldson helped the Blue Jays and their league-leading offense reach the playoffs, while Trout willed his Angels - the AL's 12th-best team by OPS - to Game 162 before being eliminated. Both players are unquestionably MVP-worthy, but how can the undisputed best player in baseball not win after producing arguably the best season of his career? - DT

AL CY YOUNG

The AL Cy Young race could not be any closer, as Dallas Keuchel and David Price's seasons are almost mirror images of each another. Though it's not ideal to hand out the award to someone who switched teams midway through the season - the lone time it happened was 1984 - Price's dominance and ability to transform a .500 team pushes him ahead in the vote. The left-hander led the AL with a 2.45 ERA, while striking out nine more than Keuchel in 11 1/3 fewer innings. After joining the Blue Jays at the deadline, Price went 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA, allowing two or fewer runs in eight of 11 starts, helping end a 22-year postseason drought. - BW

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Though life in the BBWAA comes with certain privileges, determining the AL’s best rookie isn’t one of them. One of either Carlos Correa or Francisco Lindor will take home the award, and while there isn’t really a wrong choice, Correa might get the vote for the following reasons: 1) Though the two shortstops enjoyed comparably brilliant offensive numbers, Correa boasts a huge advantage in win probability added, mitigating Lindor’s edge in defensive value; 2) Considering his age, Correa’s performance evokes legitimate comparisons to Alex Rodriguez: no other shortstop, after all, has ever managed more than 15 homers and an .800 OPS in his age-20 season. - JB

AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR

Choosing a manager of the year is one of the more difficult votes, mostly because there's little data available that helps measure their impact on a game. For instance, both A.J. Hinch and Jeff Banister helped guide their clubs to the playoffs behind tremendous turnarounds, but neither one managed their team last season, making their value tough to substantiate. This vote goes to first-year skipper Banister, who helped overcome the Ron Washington disaster, Yu Darvish's injury, and Josh Hamilton's return to win the Texas Rangers' first division title in four seasons. Banister's 21-win turnaround was punctuated by his franchise rookie record of five managerial ejections, an interesting footnote stat that might help to quantify the Rangers' resilient second-half surge. We'll just never know. - DT

NL MVP

No reasonable person can argue that Bryce Harper doesn’t deserve the NL MVP award. The more pertinent question, really, is whether Harper’s season - in which he led the majors in average, OBP, slugging percentage, isolated power, weighted runs created plus, and WAR - is the greatest ever by a 22-year-old. For more than seven decades, Ted Williams held that distinction - at age 22, he hit .406 with a 1.287 OPS (235 OPS+) - but after accounting for defensive performance and disparities in run-scoring environment, Harper’s performance in 2015 may actually be more impressive. Williams, by the way, was denied the AL MVP in 1941, receiving barely half the first-place votes Joe DiMaggio did. That won’t happen to Harper this year. - JB

NL CY YOUNG

Jake Arrieta’s second half was so dominant, it almost doesn’t matter what he accomplished prior to the All-Star break. The NL Cy Young is based on an entire body of work, and it’s hard to argue Zack Greinke wasn’t the model of consistency on the mound this year, but it was magical to watch Arrieta work with surgeon-like precision down the stretch. The righty’s 0.75 second-half ERA is the lowest in history, and his MLB-leading 22 wins are the most since Justin Verlander racked up 24 in 2011. Arrieta is also the first hurler to win 22 games and post an ERA under 2.00 since Dwight Gooden in 1985. If that isn’t convincing enough, check out the tape of his no-hitter at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 30 during a nationally televised game. - GW

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

Kris Bryant lived up to the hype and then some during his first season in Chicago pinstripes, leading all rookies in most counting stats and offering up strong peripherals on percentage-based categories for a player who's just 23 years old. The first-year third baseman only really scuffled once over his 151-game season, managing a monthly OPS under .800 just once (July), while hitting 14 homers with an .866 OPS mark in the second half while his Cubs chased a playoff berth. Perhaps most impressive was Bryant's well-rounded approach at the plate. Despite his high strikeout rate, the big right-handed hitter is just the fourth rookie in MLB history to hit at least 25 home runs, steal at least 10 bases, and post an OBP above .360. - DT

NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR

In his first season with the Cubs, manager Joe Maddon helped transform the organization. Armed with his quirky antics and outlandish personality, the two-time AL Manager of the Year has instilled a winning culture among a budding crop of young stars and an organization that was once synonymous with perennial losing. Despite fielding three rookies in major roles, the Cubs evolved from a 73-win team in 2014 to one that finished 97-65 - the third-best record in the majors. The Cubs weren't supposed to be this good this soon, and Maddon deserves much of the credit. - BW