COAS Hands Out 2018 MLB Awards

I started doing my research and writing this in the wake of the Cubs falling in Game 163. So I'm bummed. But tradition must hold, and as such, it's time to take a look at the 2018 regular season that was and make my picks for MLB awards.

As I've done in years past, I will look at the candidates for the four major awards in each league, and make my case for each below.

COAS Hands Out 2017 MLB Awards

We interrupt the mostly football-related postings on Confessions of a Sportscaster to bring you another annual feature that I like to do, because running through stats is fun, especially when you don't have to do all the compiling.

It was a pretty busy summer for baseball here on COAS, as I spent the spring and summer working on a much more massive Tournament of Champions than I'd attempted in years prior, but it all worked out in the end when after 1,422 games the 2016 Chicago Cubs took home the Championship of Champions. I'm also hoping that the 2017 Cubs can pull off a repeat and give me a bonus title on top of the one from last year.

But before they can do that, and before any playoff games taint the sample, I want to go through the 2017 Major League Baseball season and, as I have done in years past, make my votes for the four most major awards in each league.

COAS Hands Out 2016 MLB Awards

I'm following up on an annual feature here on Confessions of a Sportscaster. I debated about pushing this back until Wednesday to keep each day with one post, but I decided to push the timetable up to today since the season is concluded. This way no playoff results cloud my judgment.

For the most part, I've decided on a lot of these votes for awards already and it was just a matter of waiting for the final numbers. With those in the books, I am going to make my picks for Manager of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Cy Young Award, and Most Valuable Player for each league.

COAS Hands Out 2015 MLB Awards

The 2015 Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close, and in a way, I'm kind of sad about it. After a few years of shoddy baseball on the North Side of Chicago, the Cubs finally put together a team worth watching, and they're playing in October. I don't want it to end.

With the playoffs beginning tomorrow and no tiebreaker games on the books this week, it's time for me to continue my annual tradition of handing out awards. As I'm not a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, I can get away with this.

I've been pretty on the money the last few years in terms of picking the award winners. Let's give it another go.

2014 MLB Awards

What a summer it's been. There was a fair amount of parity in Major League Baseball, and it's nice to not have a New York or Boston team in the playoffs (so the East Coast bias can go away for one October). As a Cubs fan, I expected nothing this season. But they overachieved in the first year under Rick Renteria, and we got to see glimpses of the future. I look forward to next April/May when Kris Bryant gets his call.

But for 2014, no teams lost 100 games, and nobody won 100 games; it's the first time since 2007 that this has happened. It took until September 15th for the first playoff spot to be claimed, as the Angels rode a hot second half to a berth. The next day, the first divisions were claimed as Baltimore and Washington got to crack open some champagne. By the start of the final week, only half the spots were claimed. It made for a fun final week.

This season, I only got to one big league game, as my wife kidnapped me to go to Wrigley. This marks the only the second year (the other was 2008) that the Cubs had a sub-.500 record at games I attended, and the first time they went winless. I also didn't get to see Javy Baez in person. Next year, baby.

So with 2014's regular season in the books, it's time for me to hand out awards. For the most part, my votes have concurred with the official results in years past. I'd be willing to bet they'd do so again this year. Let's take a look.

2013 MLB Awards

Being in Chicago, baseball season wasn't overly exciting. Yet I continued tradition and made it to Wrigley, having done so at least once every year since 1998, though the first trip involved my being kidnapped to go (but what can I say, I enjoyed being kidnapped). I also got to make it to see the Stanley Cup, which was awesome, even if Coach Q didn't do a victory lap around the warning track. A trip to Milwaukee also appeared on the docket this year and we got to introduce Kristen to Miller Park's fare. I think she enjoyed the trip just based on that.

For the first time I also actively participated in a fantasy baseball league with a bunch of people on Twitter from various different places. (I played in a couple leagues in years past that I didn't pay attention to; won the first year, and ended up in last place the following year.) By the start of May, I led the Perfect Strangers league after a couple dominant weeks, then was never knocked off that perch despite the best efforts of another owner who gave me a hell of a fight in the title matchup this week, so much so that I needed the tiebreaker of winning our regular season matchups to pull victory out of my behind. Really though, I have to tip my hat to a great group of people that made this a fun league to play in and for making it competitive to the end. (And yes, I took a potshot at Jeff Loria with my team name. I stand by my decision.)

So with playing fantasy, I had to pay attention to what was going on over the course of the whole season. As such, hopefully I have some level of qualifications to pick out award winners for the 2013 campaign that just broke a tie for a wild card spot and we still have a great, open playoff left to go. But with the regular season done, it's time to look back and hand out awards for the season.