Tony DeMarco

The votes already have been cast, but we won’t know the winners until next month, after we’ve crowned a new World Series champion. Not even presidential elections take that long to decide. But we’ll help ease the suspense with an awards ballot of our own.

Just as with the Baseball Writers Association of America ballots, there are 10 spots to fill in the Most Valuable Player voting, and three apiece for the Cy Youngs, Rookies of the Year and Managers of the Year.

AL Most Valuable Player
1) Alex Rodriguez, New York: Repeat after me, the postseason doesn’t count in this balloting, the postseason doesn’t count. The fact is, A-Rod led David Ortiz in batting average, runs, hits, home runs, stolen bases, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS. That plus Gold Glove-caliber defense is enough to put him on top. 2) David Ortiz, Boston: Nobody delivered more clutch hits — maybe nobody ever. You can overlook the fact that he is a designated hitter when he won so many games with his bat. 3) Travis Hafner, Cleveland: He also led Ortiz in OPS, as well as the young Tribe’s second-half push to the brink of the playoffs. 4) Mark Teixeira, Texas: His numbers mirror Ortiz’s, but were compiled far from the playoff race. 5) Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles: He didn’t match his 2004 MVP totals, but his team won another division title. 6) Manny Ramirez, Boston. 7) Paul Konerko, Chicago. 8) Gary Sheffield, New York. 9) Michael Young, Texas. 10) Mariano Rivera, New York

NL Most Valuable Player
1) Albert Pujols, St. Louis: Much is made of Andruw Jones stepping up when Chipper Jones and others were hurt — and rightfully so. But the Cardinals had major injuries of their own, yet Pujols put up his usually brilliant numbers, and led Jones in most every major category, including out-hitting him by 67 points. 2) Andruw Jones, Atlanta: No doubt, he came up huge when his team needed him most. But I can’t vote for an MVP with a .263 batting average and a .209 mark with runners in scoring position. 3) Derrek Lee, Chicago: Simply put, the perfect argument for a Willie Mays Outstanding Player of the Year Award. 4) Miguel Cabrera, Florida. He can be the next Pujols, but he’ll have to improve his work habits and focus. 5) Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia: Nobody was a better clutch performer for his team down the stretch. 6) Morgan Ensberg, Houston. 7) Jason Bay, Pittsburgh. 8) David Wright, New York. 9) Brian Giles, San Diego. 10) Rafael Furcal, Atlanta.

AL Cy Young Award
1) Johan Santana, Minnesota: Five fewer wins than Bartolo Colon is not enough of a deterrent in light of Santana leading the league in opponents’ batting average (.210), strikeouts (238) and walks/hits per innings pitched (0.97), and finishing second in innings pitched (231.2) and ERA (2.87) – all far ahead of Colon. 2) Bartolo Colon, Los Angeles: He won 21 and he’s a horse who gobbles up innings. But he was only seventh in the league in innings pitched, eighth in ERA, eighth in strikeouts and 10^th in complete games. 3) Mariano Rivera, New York: It takes an incredible season by a closer — we’re talking 1992 Dennis Eckersley, 2003 Eric Gagne — plus a weak field of starters, for a closer to win this award. As good as Rivera was, he fell a bit below that bar.

NL Cy Young Award
1) Chris Carpenter, St. Louis: Even in a very close race with four potential winners, it’s hard to top a 21-5 record, a 13-game winning streak, team wins in 17 consecutive starts, 204 hits and 213 strikeouts in a league-leading 241 innings pitched, and seven complete games. 2) Dontrelle Willis, Florida: If hitting meant anything in this race, he’d win it hands-down. But his numbers are just a hair behind Carpenter’s in most every category except ERA. 3) Roger Clemens, Houston: Don’t feel too badly for him; he already has seven of these things. Those 12 wins easily could have been 18 if not for those nine shutouts suffered by the Astros in his starts. He also led the all starters in ERA and opponents’ batting average. Not bad for 43 years old.

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