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With some really fun races on a team level and hopefully a chaotic playoffs in store for us, we have lots of intrigue left in the 2025 Major League Baseball season. Not on the list would be almost every major individual award. At least in terms of players -- meaning not Manager of the Year -- the only award that still doesn't seem like a sure thing is the NL Rookie of the Year, though perhaps there's still an opening in AL MVP?

Just to illustrate the point here in our final installment of Awards Watch this season, let's run through all of the BBWAA awards.

Odds via FanDuel

AL MVP 

There's still a shot Cal Raleigh can find a way here and I think he needs to get to 60 home runs. He's at 56 with 11 games to play after hitting two more Tuesday. He continues to make history. The betting odds say Judge is still the leader here.

Judge just has such a massive advantage in the rate stats and that's where the separation lies. 

Raleigh is hitting .247/.361/.590 while Judge is hitting .326/.451/.676. Raleigh has the 56 home runs along with 118 RBI and 104 runs. Judge has 48 homers, 103 RBI and 125 runs along with a lead in both major versions of WAR. The argument for Raleigh here would be how impressive it is to put up the numbers he's putting up while dealing with the rigors of catching. It doesn't look like the Yankees end up winning the AL East while the Mariners have a good chance to take the AL West, so maybe there's another avenue for Raleigh. 

NL MVP

There just isn't really much to say here. 

Ohtani will join Barry Bonds as the only two players ever to win at least four MVPs. Bonds won seven. Can Ohtani get there?

AL Cy Young

Tarik Skubal is looking to become the first back-to-back AL Cy Young winner since Pedro Martinez did it in 1999-2000. Garrett Crochet of the Red Sox is having an amazing season and hung with Skubal here, but it seems like the Tigers ace is going to prevail on the basis of the rate stats. 

  • Tarik Skubal, Tigers, -4000
  • Garrett Crochet, Red Sox, +1000

Skubal is 13-5 with a 2.26 ERA, 0.86 WHIP and 224 strikeouts against 28 walks in 183 ⅓ innings. Crochet is 16-5 with a 2.63 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and 240 strikeouts against 43 walks in 191 ⅓ innings. It isn't a blowout at all here, but it's probably Skubal and the odds reflect that reality instead of trying to gauge how close the vote will be. 

NL Cy Young

The first of many? 

Once Zack Wheeler went down with injury, the path was clear for Skenes.

Even after getting beaten up by the Cubs a bit on Tuesday night, Skenes is 10-10 with a 2.03 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and 209 strikeouts in 181 ⅔ innings. He'll get one more start and his workload isn't a concern. 

AL Rookie of the Year

The odds are off the board. It's that much of a blowout. 

Nick Kurtz is the man here. The Athletics' first baseman is hitting .296/.391/.623 with 24 doubles, two triples, 32 home runs, 80 RBI and 80 runs in 106 games. 

NL Rookie of the Year

With help from his teammates, obviously, Cubs rookie starter Cade Horton outdueled Skenes on Tuesday night. He's now 11-4 with a 2.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 95 strikeouts in 115 innings. This increased his lead in the odds. 

Baldwin is hitting .266/.334/.437 with 14 doubles, 16 home runs, 69 RBI and 47 runs in 114 games. 

AL Manager of the Year

There aren't odds on Manager of the Year votes, but we'll discuss them anyway. This one might actually go down to the wire. 

The top two candidates as things stand appear to be John Schneider of the Blue Jays and Dan Wilson of the Mariners. 

Schneider's Blue Jays heading into the season weren't picked by many to make the playoffs. In fact, I bet we could find more last-place predictions than people who thought they'd even grab a wild card. Instead, they are very likely going to win the AL East and, in fact, have a great shot to finish with the best record in the American League. They were 26-28 after a loss on May 27 and then went nuts ever since. 

Wilson is in his first full season as Mariners manager after taking over late last season. The Mariners haven't won the AL West since 2001, but they have now won 10 straight games and sit in first place in the AL West. Should they get it done and win the division title, there will be plenty of support for Wilson.

I believe Tigers manager A.J. Hinch was a favorite for this one when the Tigers had a 14-game lead, but at this point my hunch is the voters are much more impressed by Schneider and Wilson. That Tigers lead is down to 5 ½ games over the Guardians and those two teams still have five head-to-head games remaining. That's where there is a wrinkle here. The Guardians were down 15 ½ games in early July and still 12 ½ games out August 25. If they somehow win that division, Stephen Vogt would have a very strong case. 

And that would be two managers winning back-to-back Manager of the Year awards in their first two years on the job, because ... 

NL Manager of the Year

Unless the Brewers collapse and fail to win the NL Central, which isn't going to happen, this will surely be Pat Murphy's award. He'll be a back-to-back winner in his first two years at the helm. We so rarely see back-to-back winners in Manager of the Year votes because so much of the credentials boils down to the manager whose team most defied expectations and to have that happen two straight years requires pretty rare circumstances. And yet here we are. Murphy will run away with this one.

The only previous back-to-back Manager of the Year winners were Kevin Cash (Rays, 2020-21) and Bobby Cox (Braves, 2004-05).