Chicago Cubs miss out on several yearly awards early on

As we all know, each year the league issues out awards to those who stand out from the crowd in either the batter’s box, mound, stellar defense or calling the shots from the dugout.

With the first couple of rounds officially in the books, the Chicago Cubs have missed out. MLB.com’s website has listed winners of awards thus far, including the league’s best hitters and those who will bring home a Gold Glove.

Veteran catcher Yadier Molina and outfielder Jason Heyward earned themselves a Gold Glove this season for the St. Louis Cardinals. Molina is hands down the best catcher in all of baseball aside from Buster Posey while Heyward exceeded everyone’s expectations after what appeared to be a decline in production.

The N.L. West dominated the Silver Slugger awards as Posey, Paul Goldschmidt, Nolan Arenado, Brandon Crawford, Carlos Gonzalez, and pitcher Madison Bumgarner represented their division in that category. That’s rather impressive and scary if you ask me.

Before the league announces their N.L. and A.L. Cy Young and Rookie of the Year winners, three managers from each league will go head-to-head, including Chicago Cubs skipper, Joe Maddon.

Maddon inherited a club full of young players on his 25-man roster with a handful of promising prospects brewing within the farm system. He ended the year in the National League Championship Series, but despite being swept by the New York Mets, he’s considered a favorite to win.

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Not only did he boost this club to a 97 win season, but the Cubs finished with the third best record in all of baseball. Not to take away anything from Terry Collins, who is a superb skipper, but winning that many games while battling with two of the best teams in the league is nothing that should be overlooked.

There’s no doubt that the N.L. Central is the toughest division out there, so that should be taken into consideration when it’s time to name the N.L. Manager of the Year.

And then you have Jake Arrieta and Kris Bryant who are also favorites to win their respected categories. Bryant debuted with the Cubs in mid-April, tearing up the scene but struck out a league leading 199 times.

He led rookies in several categories while his ace, Arrieta, was tearing it up on the mound. Especially during the second half of the season.

Arrieta no-hit Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw‘s Los Angeles Dodgers and cruised past the Pirates to help set the match-up between the Cubs and Cardinals for the first time in postseason history.

The league will announce the Rookie of the Year next Monday, Manager of the Year on Nov. 17, and the Cy Young on Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. eastern time on the MLB Network.