I’ve probably written this sentence 15,000 times in the last couple of months, but baseball season is back and I am pumped.
I can’t wait to get home from school, crack open some homework and pretend to do that while I watch a four-and-a-half hour baseball game. Then, when the game ends at like 10:30 PM and I just wasted my night watching a 6-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, I’m probably gonna sit there and ponder all of my life decisions. But hey, it’ll be pretty fun watching Xander Bogaerts bury himself in an 0-2 count taking two fastballs right down the middle then rolling a ground ball over to the shortstop, right? Ehhhh, it is what it is.
That being said, here are my projected award winners for the American League this season:
AL MVP: Mike Trout
I mean this is a pretty obvious pick, right? Trout is quietly and rapidly building himself a legendary Hall of Fame resume. In his six seasons in the Major Leagues, Trout has finished first or second in the MVP voting four times. Last season, Trout finished fourth after hitting 33 home runs in just 112 games. Had a large portion of his season not been forfeited to injury, he would likely be a three-time MVP. Ridiculous.
AL Cy Young: Chris Sale
“You’re being super biased right now.” Uhhh, ya think? Sale was ridiculous through the first half of last season and was the quasi first half AL Cy Young winner for being named the starter of the All-Star Game. The long 162 game grind proved to be too much for Sale, though, as his performance dropped off significantly as the pennant race began to heat up. This season, Sale has drastically changed his offseason approach in hopes of preserving his arm and ensuring that he’s ready to compete come September.
AL Rookie of the Year: Vlad Guerrero Jr.
This is a bit of a wild card answer courtesy of fellow T&L blogger Hamsky and friend of the program Wil Gonzales. Guerrero takes some pretty hilarious daddy hacks, but there’s no doubt that he has the gross power to snatch the Rookie of the Year award right out of Shohei Ohtani’s hands.
(Photos by Keith Allison)
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