The 2025 Major League Baseball season is drawing to a close and while the primary focus now shifts to the playoffs, it’s also award season. There are some hotly contested battles, including for American League MVP, which will make award voting this year particularly intriguing.
Let’s dive into our final MLB award predictions for the 2025 season, starting with the National League, followed by the American League. We’re providing our picks for the following MLB awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and Comeback Player of the Year in each league.
Note: MLB statistics entering play on Monday, September 22.
NL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Dodgers
Shohei Ohtani will win MVP for the third consecutive year and become the first player in MLB history to win both AL and NL MVP awards twice. Once again, it’s not really a contest. Ohtani will finish the season with a 7-plus Wins Above Replacement, and no other National League hitter reached 7.0. With his fourth MLB MVP award, Ohtani will stand alone in second place in MLB history, and he might have a real shot at tying Barry Bonds (seven) before his career ends.
- Shohei Ohtani stats (ESPN): .283/.395/.620, 1.015 OPS, 53 home runs, 99 RBI, 167 hits, 19 stolen bases, 3.29 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 54-9 K-BB ratio, .590 OPS allowed to opposing hitters in 41 innings pitched
Related: Highest-Paid MLB Players 2025
NL Cy Young: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates
Similar to the National League MVP, there isn’t a ton of debate regarding who should win the NL Cy Young Award in 2025. Philadelphia Phillies‘ starter Cristopher Sanchez has been outstanding this year, putting up a 2.66 ERA with a .232 batting average allowed, a 20.3 percent K-BB rate, a 1.10 WHIP and an NL-best 21 quality starts this season. Paul Skenes has simply been better. The Pittsburgh Pirates ace, who is already on a Hall of Fame trajectory, has held opponents to a .199 batting average this season with a 0.96 WHIP, a 2.03 ERA and the third-highest K-BB rate (23.5 percent) among all starters. The baseball world just wishes he played for a competitive team.
NL Rookie of the Year: Caleb Durbin, Milwaukee Brewers
It feels like a toss-up for National League Rookie of the Year. Chicago Cubs starting pitcher Cade Horton, Atlanta Braves catcher Drake Baldwin, and Milwaukee Brewers infielder Caleb Durbin all deserve consideration. Defensive metrics should weigh more heavily than team success, but voters are splitting hairs with these three. Horton’s phenomenal post-All-Star Break numbers (0.93 ERA, 52-15 K-BB in 58.1 innings) have made him the slight front-runner. However, the narrative around Durbin, a 25-year-old rookie Milwaukee acquired from the New York Yankees in the Devin Williams trade, proving instrumental in helping the Brewers secure the No. 1 seed in the National League, feels like it will decide this one.
- Caleb Durbin stats 2025 (ESPN): .263/.340/.399, .739 OPS, 11 home runs, 16 steals, 52 RBI, 60 runs scored, 112 hits, 48-30 K-BB. 5 Defensive Runs Saved, 3.0 bWAR in 131 games
NL Manager of the Year: Pat Murphy, Milwaukee Brewers
Entering the 2025 MLB season, the Brewers were projected to be a .500 team that would miss the playoffs by the likes of CBS Sports, MLB.com, and ESPN. Those forecasts seemed on track early, as Milwaukee held a 21-25 record with a -10 run differential after May 17. Since then, the Brewers are 74-35 (.679) with a +191 run differential. Credit belongs to everyone in the organization, but Pat Murphy is the obvious choice for National League Manager of the Year.
NL Comeback Player of the Year: Ronald Acuna Jr, Atlanta Braves
At the All-Star break, the 33-year-old earned his first All-Star selection since 2017, thanks to a 2.65 ERA with a .196 batting average allowed and a 17.6 percent K-BB rate in 119 innings pitched. Since then, Ray has posted a 5.54 ERA with a 10.5 percent K-BB rate and a .257 batting average allowed in his last 12 starts.
- Ronald Acuna Jr stats (ESPN): .284/.409/.498, .907 OPS, 18 home runs, 37 RBI, 8 steals, 90 hits, 69 runs scored in 89 games played
So, Braves outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. can add to a trophy case that already includes NL MVP (2023), NL Rookie of the Year (2018), and three Silver Slugger Awards. Making his return from an ACL tear suffered in May 2024, Acuña ranks eighth in wRC+ (153) among all qualified players from May 23 through Sept. 21.
AL Comeback Player of the Year: Jacob deGrom, Texas Rangers
In December 2022, Jacob deGrom signed a five-year, $185 million contract with the Texas Rangers. He made just nine starts in the first two seasons of the deal, undergoing Tommy John surgery in the summer of 2023. Now in his age-37 season, deGrom has made 29 starts for the first time since 2019. Remarkably, deGrom has a lower WHIP (0.93) than he did in his Cy Young season, and his H/9 (6.4) isn’t far off from when he won the NL Cy Young Award in consecutive seasons (2018-19). While he isn’t striking out batters like he used to, deGrom still posted a 21.6 K-BB rate and held opponents under the Mendoza Line this season.
AL Manager of the Year: John Schneider, Toronto Blue Jays
Manager of the Year is either awarded to the skipper of the club with the best record or the one who led a tea that exceeded expectations. Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider checks both boxes. This season, Toronto was the only team in the AL East to be five-plus games over .500 against clubs with a winning record. The 45-year-old has proven the Blue Jays’ organization right for promoting him to skipper in 2022.
AL Rookie of the Year: Nock Kurtz, Athletics
When Mike Trout won AL Rookie of the Year in 2012 and finished second in the American League MVP voting, he recorded a .963 OPS with 30 home runs and 83 RBI. Nick Kurtz might not have put up the stolen base totals and defensive production that Trout did, but it shows just how great his production at the plate was this season for the Athletics. There’s no contest for AL Rookie of the Year this season, but Kurtz’s teammate Jacob Wilson (.315/.357/.449 with an .806 OPS) also deserves attention for his phenomenal rookie campaign.
- Nick Kurtz stats (ESPN): .291/.384/.613, .998 OOS, 33 home runs, 81 RBI, 116 hits, 25 doubles, 83 runs scored in 111 games
AL Cy Young Award: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers ace Tarik Skubal will be the first back-to-back winner of the AL Cy Young Award since Pedro Martínez (1999-2000). Garrett Crochet of the Boston Red Sox made a compelling case this season—2.69 ERA, 31.6 percent K-rate, .219 batting average allowed—but you have to give the Cy Young to the American League starter who led all his peers in ERA (2.23), finished second in strikeouts (233), and first in WHIP (0.88). There’s a real chance Skubal enters MLB free agency after next season with three consecutive Cy Young Awards.
AL MVP: Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
Narratives and historic marks absolutely play a role in AL MVP voting. Miguel Cabrera winning it in 2013 over Mike Trout because of the Triple Crown, despite their staggering WAR differential (7.5 vs. 8.9), is a prime example of that. So, while Yankees’ outfielder Aaron Judge will end the season with a much higher WAR (9.0) than Cal Raleigh (6.9), milestones matter here.
- Cal Raleigh stats (ESPN): .247/.260/.589, .949 OPS, 58 home runs, 121 RBI, 14 steals, 107 runs scored, 141 hits in 153 games played
Raleigh broke Ken Griffey Jr.’s franchise record for home runs in a single season, along with Mickey Mantle’s MLB single-season record for home runs by a switch-hitter, and he shattered the single-season record for most home runs by a primary catcher. Raleigh did all of that, mind you, while ranking sixth in Catcher Framing Runs (seven) and serving as the battery mate for a Mariners pitching staff that had a 3.88 ERA despite being decimated by injuries throughout the season. Raleigh has earned the added milestone of being the first catcher to win AL MVP since Joe Mauer (2009).
