Below are my awards and rest-of-season predictions for the 2017 MLB season:
Cy Young: Sale and Kershaw
Rookie of the Year: Judge and Bellinger – Shocker right there, if they win the awards we broke the news here first so, ESPN, please credit Sporfolio.
MVP: Correa and Zimmerman
AL East: Boston has the lead right now in the AL East as they enter a massive series with the Yankees. This series I think will determine if the Yankees are buyers at the deadline. If they get swept they are not out of it but will be content with their year and sit on their rebuild idea which they have been in. If they sweep the series they will be right in this thing and could be in the market for an arm. They can say they are rebuilding but they are the Yankees they can buy anyone and have the best farm system in baseball. Giving up a couple of prospects won’t be the end of the world because they will have more studs coming up the in 2 years.
AL Central: The Royals have climbed back into this and the Twins aren’t out of this race. However this is the Indians race to lose. Since coming back from injury, Kluber has been untouchable and could challenge Sale for the Cy Young if he continues the success he is having right now. The Indians have the experience going to the World Series last year, swept the Red Sox in the first round who had an unreal team with Ortiz, and then they go ahead and get Encarnacion who I think will be the difference. Also love Encarnacion to have a massive second half of the season, he is already having a good year with 18 home runs, look for him to get 40 plus by the end of the season.
AL West: Nothing here to talk about, the Houston Astros can call up their Triple A team and let their stars rest, they have this in the bag. They have a 16 game lead where no team behind them is under .500. The Rangers show potential but don’t have enough fire power to keep up in this race-and I use that term loosely. Correa should win MVP at this point but Altuve could as well and I wouldn’t be shocked at all. The Astros will be the team to beat as they in the Playoffs and will give the AL home field advantage since the All-Star Game doesn’t matter any more.
NL East: Just like the Astros, the Nationals have this division about wrapped up. I know Met fans want to believe Harvey will find his grove, Syndergard will come back, and deGrom is having a great year. However the Nationals are too good. Murphy is still having an incredible year which shocks me honestly. I didn’t think it was a bad move by the Mets not to resign him, I didn’t think they should have. Well he proved me wrong and are making the Mets look like the cheap team that they are. It’s Bryce Harpers’ division everyone else just gets participation trophy.
NL Central: The Brewers are out in front here but here come the Cubs. They made a deal with the in-state rivals and picked up Quintana who will be a nice arm in their rotation. It was a great deal for both teams as the White Sox are in rebuilding mode and the Cubs needed an arm. If Lester gets it going the Cubs will be dangerous. Schwarber will be back this second half, he is too good of a player to keep batting under .200. Anyone that thinks he should have been traded is nuts. He is so young and shows show much potential. Not saying he is untouchable because no one in sports is untouchable everyone has a price tag, but Shwarber will come back big with something to prove.
NL West: The Dodgers are on fire and are sitting pretty for the second half of this season. Bellinger is an incredible player, Turner is playing out of his mind and they still have stars like Gonzalez and Puig that can pick up the slack if need be. They aren’t putting up the numbers you would like but if you asked team if they would take them almost every team would say yes. Kershaw is playing like Kershaw and Alex Wood still has yet to lose a game. Last year we saw Porcello win the Cy Young as he went 22-4, didn’t have the best numbers but good enough with a great record to win the award. I don’t think Wood will win it over Kershaw or Scherzer but he will get a ton of votes if he continues this play. As for the Giants they are getting Mad Bum back after his stupid injury. The Giants’ best player is Posey who is getting old, I’m a firm believer if you don’t have a shot then blow it up and work for the future. The Giants had a good run and if they moved Cueto and Bumgarner they could pick up a ton of huge prospects. Will it happen, no, but I would love to see the Giants to go into Trust the Process mode.