SBN Reacts: 2020 Award Winners
Almost inconceivably, the MLB season has surpassed the halfway point. Despite teams playing a wide range of total number of games, most are within a game or two either way of 30 of the 60 game season.
Even with the small sample size, there are clear front runners for the end-of-season awards.
MLB fans were asked in the most recent SB Nation Reacts survey who they think deserves to win the MVP and Cy Young awards, and who will win each league’s batting title. The most interesting name atop the fan vote was a player who has undoubtedly grabbed the league’s attention.
Fernando Tatis Jr. was followed by Mookie Betts (26%), Charlie Blackmon (10%), and Mike Yastrzemski (7%). Tatis Jr. wasn’t even a consideration for the award when the question was first asked in July, when Christian Yelich was the top choice.
In the American League, it was a familiar name atop the vote. Angels superstar Mike Trout received almost two-thirds of the vote, ahead of Nelson Cruz, DJ LeMahieu and Brandon Lowe. Trout received a similar amount of the vote in the preseason vote.
Voters again chose Jacob deGrom to earn the NL Cy Young award, as they did in July, by a similar margin. The Mets pitcher garnered 36% of the vote.
The American League saw a new name atop the vote total. Overtaking Gerrit Cole was Cleveland ace Shane Bieber, who took nearly half the total votes.
Fans predicted that Blackmon and LeMahieu will win the NL and AL batting titles. Currently Blackmon leads the league with a .390 batting average. LeMahieu is hitting .411, but doesn’t currently have enough at-bats to qualify as he returns from injury.
