Chicago Cubs: Predicting the National League award winners

With the regular season winding down, some award races have a clear winner, and some races are still tight.

Most notably, the MVP race has a clear cut leader, and that is none other than the Chicago Cubs’ Kris Bryant. Bryant has posted a .295/.389/.564 batting line, while adding 39 home runs and 101 RBI. At this point, the MVP is Bryant’s to lose. Following close in the MVP race are Nolan Arenado, Daniel Murphy, and Bryant’s teammate, Anthony Rizzo.

As for the Cy Young award, this picture is a little more clouded. Kyle Hendricks, Madison Bumgarner, Jon Lester, Noah Syndergaard, and Max Scherzer all have very compelling cases.

Hendricks, of course, is leading the majors in ERA and has been for much of the second half. As it currently sits just under two, at 1.99. Hendricks’ walk rate is at just 6%, which is equal to Syndergaard’s, Bumgarner’s and Scherzer’s, and just lower than Lester’s, who is at 6.4%.

Lester has the most wins of the group, and, despite how wins are viewed nowadays, the viewers still take a look at them. Hendricks and Lester also have the advantage of being on the best team in baseball. Scherzer has the highest K% of the group, at 31.4%, followed by Syndergaard, and then Bumgarner. Scherzer also has the lowest BAA of the group. The vote here goes to Scherzer.

Gold Gloves

It’s hard to gauge who will win the gold gloves. This is simply because defense isn’t in the limelight as much as offense. But, the Cubs may take home a fair amount of the gold gloves in the National League. Addison Russell, Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Jason Heyward all have a very good chance to win a gold glove.

Russell will have to unseat reigning winner Brandon Crawford at short, but he has been every bit as good, if not better than Crawford. Russell currently sits at 18 DRS, as compared to Crawford’s 17. These two are very close, and the race should be just as close. Rizzo leads all first baseman in baseball at 10 DRS.

Reigning winner Paul Goldschmidt has just five DRS. Bryant has just five DRS, but, he has the disadvantage of playing multiple positions. In a gold glove race, that has to make it harder to win one.

The winners are Arenado at third, Crawford keeps the Gold at short, Rizzo wins his first Gold Glove, in the outfield, the winners are Starling Marte, Ender Inciarte, and Jason Heyward. This will be Heyward’s fourth gold glove in five years. Behind the plate, the Gold Glove goes to Buster Posey, it will be his first.

Manager Of The Year

Last year, Joe Maddon ran away with this award, leading a team of Cubs’ youngsters to 97 wins and an appearance in the NLCS. This year, Maddon is another finalist, along with Terry Collins, Dusty Baker, and Dave Roberts.

Maddon has led the Cubs to even greater heights this year, as they currently sit at 101 wins. There are still with five games to go. Collins’ Mets, have been absolutely riddled with injuries, losing David Wright, Matt Harvey, Steven Matz, Neil Walker, and Jacob deGrom all for the season.

Lucas Duda also missed a significant amount of time with an injury. Yet, somehow, the Mets are still sitting atop the National League Wildcard standings.

Roberts’ Dodgers were in much of the same situation, as nearly the whole starting rotation was out for parts of the year, most notably Clayton Kershaw. Alex Wood, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Brandon McCarthy all missed time at some point during the season.

Next: Cubs beat Pirates, 6-4

The Dodgers were very reliant on rookies Julio Urias and Japanese sensation Kenta Maeda, and they delivered. The Dodgers have already clinched the NL West. Dusty Baker has turned around a Nationals team who collapsed in the second half last year, leading them back atop the NL West.

The vote here goes to Terry Collins.

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