MLB Awards

One of the biggest problems that I have with Major League Baseball’s regular season awards is that the voters tend to take the entire season into consideration when the last 3 or 4 weeks of the season are actually irrelevant to many award contenders. Very often, September games are formalities. Let’s take the American League MVP race, for instance. The top 5 contenders for the award seem to be Jose Bautista, Jacoby Ellsbury, Curtis Granderson, Dustin Pedroia, and Justin Verlander. Today, Granderson is viewed as less in contention for the MVP than he was at the end of August. Why? Because his numbers fell off. To that, I say “So what?”

The Yankees have been a virtual postseason lock since the All-Star break. The second half of the season has only strengthened their hold on a playoff spot. Essentially, their place in October was sewn up before Labor Day. Why should anything that happened after that point count for or against Curtis Granderson’s MVP case? It makes no sense to me.

During the early portions of the season, everyone has—or appears to have—the same goal of trying to make it into October. That changes by the end of August. Don’t get me wrong. I am not arguing that only players for contenders should be considered for the league MVP. What I am saying is that players on teams fighting for playoff berths have different September goals than those on teams already assured of playoff spots and those on teams just playing out the string. The Yankees woke up on September 1 with a 8.5-game lead on Tampa Bay for the American League Wild Card. Honestly, can you count anything against any Yankee player—A.J. Burnett excepted—for their play from then to now?

The same thing can be said about the National League Cy Young Award. Clayton Kershaw is a clear and deserving winner this year. He would get my vote. I know some voters, however, will pay attention to how Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee closed the season. Again, why? The Phillies swept the Braves in a three-game series from September 5-7. The sweep increased the Phillies’ lead in the National League East from 7.5 to 10.5 games. The race was over at that point. The last 3 weeks for the Phillies was about getting & staying healthy and keeping everyone sharp for the playoffs. It was not about going out there every fifth day and shutting down opposing offenses.

These awards should be judged based upon the contending players’ effective seasons. To me, it makes no sense to do it any other way.