I conclude my midseason update by hading out awards that really only come at the end of the year and for which I get no vote. I’d love to hear your vote, too.
AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani. He’s pitched well. He’s leading MLB in home runs. He’s the first ever two way all star. He both deserves it, and the media loves the narrative.
AL Cy Young: Kyle Gibson gets it narrowly over Lance Lynn. Tyler Glasnow was right there too until he went on the 60 day IL.
AL Rookie of the Year—Randy Arozarena. He’s being overlooked by some due to not be as otherworldly as he was in the playoffs last year. Casey Mize and Luis Garcia deserve some love here too, but if I didn’t go with Arozarena, it’d be Adolis Garcia. The Rangers DFA’d him over the winter and are really happy there were no takers.
AL Manager of the Year: Alex Cora would normally get it as the skipper of a losing team now in first place. I think the media will pick Tony LaRussa though because some will refuse to vote for a manager who was involved in not one but two scandals on World Series winners. I pick Dusty Baker.
NL Cy Young: Jacob deGrom. Really, could it be anyone else? His worst start was his last one—7IP, 3 runs and 14 Ks.
NL MVP: Jacob deGrom If his second half matches his first, I’m pretty sure the real voters will give it to him too, making him the first pitcer to win the NL MVP since Clayton Kershaw in 2014.
NL Rookie of the Year: Trevor Rogers of the Marlins would be right there for the Cy Young if Jacob deGrom didn’t exist. He’s the easy pick here.
NL Manager of the Year: The voters love narrative especially for this award. As such, Gabe Kapler is the runaway winner. As an added bonus, when he actually does win the award at the end of the season, it will be fun watching Phillies fans’ heads explode. They spent two years mocking and ridiculing him and blaming him for anything that ever went wrong with the team.
Fan Interference 
Wait, how is Arozarena a rookie? He was previously with the Cards and someone else, I think.
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Cards in 2019, without burning his rookie eligibility. Rays last year—second month plus the playoffs. Oddly of 2020: everyone who played got a full season of service time but none who had been considered rookies lost their eligibility for this year.
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Hi raysfan1
THIS IS OLDGATOR’S WIFE
. I wanted to let you and the other ‘interfering fans'( lol ) know that the reason Oldgator has been SOOOOO quiet is….. because he has been in hospital since June 2nd!
Amazingly enough, he made it through a heart clot and emergency surgery and despite being in the ICU ward for three weeks, he is now stable and in an assisted nursing and rehab facility.
He is very weak, even too weak to follow the wonderful world of baseball , but is making
really, really, REALLY slow but steady progress ( as slow as an 28 inning game back in the 90’s!)
Please keep him in your thoughts etc
Best wishes
Oldgator’s Wife
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Oh, wow. Thanks so much for the update. I certainly will have him in my thoughts. I look forward to him being well again and making me pull out my thesaurus and Little Orphan Annie decoder ring when I read his comments! This is a much better blog with him as part of it!
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That’s for the update Mrs. Gator. Please let him know that we are thinking of him, even those of us up here in the Great White North. I am looking forward to more of his always erudite and often indecipherable commentary, as well as his amazing recipes. As Raysfan said, this place is much better with him than without him, even if is is a Feesh “fan”. 🙂
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Cover your eyes before you see the new MLB “Ransom Note” cap styles from New Era. https://fansided.com/2021/07/06/new-era-baseball-hats-set-new-low/
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Yuck. Clearly they are trying to see if HL Mencken was right when he claimed nobody ever went broke underestimating American’s good taste.
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