A trio of players from the World Series-winning Texas Rangers and three members of the 100-win Los Angeles Dodgers are finalists for the major season-ending awards, as selected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
The finalists were announced Monday night, and the awards will be presented over four nights next week.
Corey Seager and Marcus Semien of the Rangers, as well as Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels, are finalists for the American League Most Valuable Player Award. Ohtani won the honor in 2021.
In the National League, Dodgers teammates Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman joined Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves as the MVP finalists. Betts earned the AL honor in 2018 as a member of the Boston Red Sox, and Freeman won in 2020 with Atlanta.
MVP award winners will be announced Nov. 16.
Manager Bruce Bochy is the other member of the Rangers to earn consideration, joining skippers Brandon Hyde of the Baltimore Orioles and Kevin Cash of the Tampa Bay Rays in contention for AL Manager of the Year.
Bochy, who led the San Francisco Giants to three World Series titles in the 2010s, was named NL Manager of the Year in 1996 with the San Diego Padres. Cash won the honors in 2020 and 2021.
On the NL side, the baseball writers tabbed Skip Schumaker, in his first year as manager of the Miami Marlins, the Braves’ Brian Snitker and Craig Counsell. The Chicago Cubs announced Monday the hiring of Counsell, who managed the Milwaukee Brewers to a .531 winning percentage over the past nine seasons.
The winning managers will be revealed Nov. 14.
Outfielder James Outman was the final member of the Dodgers to be named a finalist, joining Corbin Carroll of the National League champion Arizona Diamondbacks and Kodai Senga of the New York Mets under consideration for the NL Rookie of the Year Award.
Tanner Bibee of the Cleveland Guardians, Triston Casas of the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson are the finalists on the AL side.
The year’s top rookies will be named on Nov. 13.
And in the Cy Young Award races, six veteran starters are vying for the two awards, which will be announced on Nov. 15.
In the National League, the candidates are Arizona’s Zac Gallen, Blake Snell of the Padres and Logan Webb of the Giants. Snell won the AL award in 2018 with the Rays.
Gerrit Cole of the New York Yankees, Kevin Gausman of the Toronto Blue Jays and Sonny Gray of the Minnesota Twins are the finalists on the American League side.
Voting for the finalists was completed before the start of the postseason.
–Field Level Media