One Month Left

Some awards are in the bag as far as I'm concerned, while others might not be decided until the final week of the season. Either way, here are my favorites, thus far, for baseball's major awards.

MVP, AL - Alex Rodriguez (.305, 44, 125, 20 steals)
Magglio Ordonez picked a bad year to have a great year because he deserves this award, there's no question about it. But when you consider the fact that A-Rod is first in the league in homeruns, runs, OPS, RBI, and slugging, plus he's on pace to become baseball's first-ever 50-150-20 guy, how can he not win this award? The Yankees playoff status should not factor into this decision.

MVP, NL - David Wright (.319, 24, 87, 30 steals)
Wright is one of about 7 guys who could legitimately win this honor right now. But here's why I'm leaning in his direction. If everything goes the way it should, he would finish around .320, with a 30-30 season, 100 runs, 100 RBI, an OBP of well over .400 and he's going to be the only guy in the NL to do that. However, if Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder power their teams into the playoffs with big Septembers, they'll probably win this award. Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins could also get a lot of votes if they score a bunch of runs and get a bunch of hits this month. And let's not forget about the seasons Hanley Ramirez and Jose Reyes are having. This one's going to be close, no question.

Cy Young, AL - C.C. Sabathia (15-7, 3.37 ERA, 176 K's)
This one may be even closer than NL MVP. And just like that award, this one will be decided by everyone's last 5 or 6 starts of the season. All things being equal, I still like Erik Bedard best, but he missed yesterday's start with a strained oblique muscle. Those things don't heal quickly, and the O's are awful, so he may be on a short leash the rest of the way home, which will hurt his chances significantly. Santana's numbers are good, but he hasn't been quite as dominant as he's been in years past. Haren's had a very average second half, and Lackey, Escobar, and Beckett's numbers have all been buoyed by their teams. That's why C.C.'s my man here. He's first in innings pitched, top-5 in wins, complete games, K's, and quality start percentage, and top-10 in ERA and winning percentage. A dependable, workhorse, ace on a playoff team...that's what being a Cy Young award winner is all about.

Cy Young, NL - Jake Peavy (15-5, 2.18, 197 K's)
As hard as the last two awards have been to choose, this one is just as easy. Peavy is in a class all by himself, and currently leads in all three of pitching's triple crown categories (wins, ERA, K's). For good measure, he's also number one in quality start percentage, 0.01 behind the leader in WHIP, and second in BAA. Congrats in advance, Jake.

ROY, AL - Dustin Pedroia (.321, 6, 42, 5 errors)
Most people thought a guy from Boston would win this award, but they didn't think he'd be an American second baseman. Pedroia is top-10 in the league (and first among rookies) in hitting, is a hell of a tough out (.392 OBP, 34 K's all year), and is one of the best fielding second basemen in all of baseball (.990 fielding percentage, 5 errors). There's not much that's not likable about this guy, and considering Alex Gordon's complete flop, Delmon Young's lack of production, and Dice-K's very average 13-11, 3.88 year, he's my guy. How much you want to bet Pedroia doesn't win, though because he's not a power hitter?

ROY, NL - Ryan Braun (.329, 25, 68, 13 steals)
He's not quite as much of a lock for his award as Jake Peavy is for Cy Young, but he's awfully close. Braun leads all rookies in hitting and OPS and he's second only to Chris B. Young in homeruns. If he gets there, a 30-30 season by Young will get a lot of attention, but his God-awful .234 batting average and even worse .287 OBP should cool voters off. The bottom line is, Braun should be able to have an okay September and still walk away with this award because he's a much more complete player than Young, at least right now.

Comeback Player Of The Year, AL - Carlos Pena (.274, 33, 92)
With all due respect to Jack Cust, the award is Pena's, hands-down. Between 2005 and 2006, he didn't get 300 at-bats total because he wasn't good enough to crack anybody's starting lineup. Now he's one of the most dangerous first basemen in the league. He'll have posted carer bests in every category by the end of the season and if it wasn't for A-Rod, he'd be leading the league in homeruns.

Comeback Player Of The Year, NL - Josh Hamilton (.278, 18, 43)
That Josh Hamilton is alive is an accomplishment in and of itself. Drug problems kept him off the field for a long time and it seemed like number one overall pick in 1999 was going to be a complete and utter waste of talent. But he's battled his way back from addiction and has enjoyed a very nice, if not injury-reduced season. Rick Ankiel should also get some votes here too.

Manager Of The Year, AL - Joe Torre
After all the Yanks have been through this season, and after their miserable start, the fact that Torre has this team atop the AL Wild Card race right now is an unbelievable accomplishment. He never pushed the panic button, and thankfully for New Yorkers, George Steinbrenner didn't either.

Manager Of The Year, NL - Tony LaRussa
No Chris Carpenter, an unproductive Scott Rolen and Jim Edmonds, and an absolutely patch-work pitching staff should have been the recipe for a 70-92 season. But LaRussa has this team within a game of .500, and within 2 games of the NL Central lead. This is why he's a Hall of Famer.