Is this a hint about who will win NL Cy Young and MVP? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Jonathan India wins an award presented by Johnny Bench, Gabe Kapler wins an award presented by Bruce Bochy.
Hmmmmm…
Simply looking at the list of presenters for this week’s MLB awards could give us an educated guess as to who will win. On Monday, a Reds legend read the result for India, Cincinnati’s obvious Rookie of the Year winner. On Tuesday, Kapler’s predecessor in San Francisco was the one to announce the results in favor of the Giants’ manager.
Phillies great Mike Schmidt will present NL MVP on Thursday night. The award is expected to go to Harper, who is the betting favorite and already the winner of the Hank Aaron Award and the Player’s Choice award for Outstanding NL Player.
Cy Young announcements come tonight. Orel Hershiser will make the National League announcement and Jack McDowell will present in the American League.
Hershiser, of course, spent 13 seasons with the Dodgers and is their color commentator. One of the three NL Cy Young finalists, Max Scherzer, made 11 starts for the Dodgers after a deadline deal from Washington.
Does this signify Scherzer will win? Maybe, maybe not. McDowell, a former Cy Young-winner with the White Sox, is presenting in the American League, where Chicago’s Lance Lynn is a finalist, but Lynn is not expected to win. That could mean Hershiser will be calling out a different name tonight.
Zack Wheeler, Scherzer and Corbin Burnes are the three finalists. If workload matters, Wheeler is deserving, as he pitched 46.1 more innings than Burnes and 34 more than Scherzer.
The announcement for NL Cy Young will come tonight around 6:35 p.m. on MLB Network.
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