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00:00Welcome back to Newswire here on Sports Grid.
00:05Matt Lutovsky joins us as we get into it.
00:08The baseball awards are coming up at the end of the season.
00:10In fact, the regular season of Major League Baseball ends at the end of September, early
00:14October, and then we get to postseason stuff.
00:16Are these awards all locked up?
00:17Let's find out.
00:18Bring in Matt from Sporting News.
00:19Matt, great to have you back here on Newswire.
00:22And while a lot of our tension, let's just be honest, is headed toward football season,
00:28fantasy football season, batting football season, college and pro, let's put a bow
00:31on this baseball season, shall we?
00:33Thanks for coming on.
00:34Yeah, I always like being here, and yeah, baseball seems to have probably gotten lost
00:39in the shuffle a little bit between the Olympics and the NFL, so it's always good to remind
00:43people that it's getting to its most exciting time of the year.
00:47Yeah, it is.
00:49And you know, the American League MVP, for a lot of people feel like it's an open and
00:53shut case that Aaron Judge is going to win the MVP, regardless of how many times he gets
00:58walked down the stretch.
01:00He has 42 home runs on the season.
01:02He is minus 1,500 right now to win the award.
01:06Bobby Witt Jr.'s numbers are off the charts incredible.
01:11And if there was a 1A MVP, it would be him.
01:15It's harder to be in Kansas City than it is in New York, we know that.
01:18It's now a two-player race at this point.
01:21But Witt's numbers at the end of the year, Matt, are going to look as good as any MVP's
01:25ever had.
01:26Is he just playing the wrong season and having these numbers?
01:29That's what it feels like.
01:30You know, you'll hear a lot, well, it was an MVP-caliber season, even if a guy doesn't
01:35win it that year.
01:37That couldn't be more true of the season Witt's having.
01:40And you know, you try to think, well, does he have a chance?
01:43What would it take?
01:44Well, unfortunately, it would probably take an injury to Aaron Judge, which no one wants
01:49to see.
01:50Or, you know, something, just a catastrophic slump that's highly unlikely to happen when
01:55you're not seeing any pitches to hit anyway.
01:57But you know, it's funny, when you look at some of the advanced numbers, like you look
02:00at the Fangrass War, you look at the Baseball Reference War, I mean, it is pretty much neck
02:05and neck.
02:06There isn't a wide chasm.
02:08And you know, people might be wondering, well, how is that possible?
02:12Well, it's because of the defense and how much Witt makes up in defense.
02:17And that's not to say he's not having an unbelievable offensive season.
02:21So if you ask me, is there a chance?
02:23I do think there's a chance, a very small one, because let's face it, at the end of
02:27the day, MVP voters, we're always going to look at the, we're going to look at the offensive
02:31numbers.
02:32Home runs still rule.
02:33It doesn't matter how much you try to say that other numbers might matter just as much.
02:39But you know, I think for Witt to even be in the conversation, he has to hit some benchmarks.
02:44He's probably going to do the 100-100 with runs and ribbies, certainly on pace for that.
02:48I think 30-30 would go a long way.
02:50I don't know if he can get there in home runs.
02:53He'll be probably pretty close.
02:54I think over 350 with his average, which he could certainly do, over 400 with his OVP.
03:00Just some nice little benchmarks that look a little better when, you know, judges' benchmarks
03:04are obviously going to be going to be eye-popping.
03:08And of course, Kansas City has to make the playoffs, too.
03:10I think that's a great part to this as well, which right now they're in a position to do.
03:15But even if he hits all those, I think it's judges' award to lose for sure.
03:19Yeah.
03:20Look, a guy hits 50-60 home runs, it's hard not to give that guy the award and he plays
03:24with pinstripes.
03:25That's the other thing there.
03:26Okay, so the Rookie of the Year odds shifted significantly in a couple of months.
03:32Colton Couser is the favorite, prohibitive favorite, minus 280.
03:36Luis Gil, who was the favorite a couple of months ago, is now in the second position.
03:41Austin Wells has climbed all the way to 10-1, and Sedan Raphael, who I love, by the way,
03:46I think this kid is a player, he is 25-1, but he's not going to win the award.
03:50So it's probably down to Couser, Gil, or Wells.
03:56And let's just be honest with you, Matt.
03:58If this award was the first half award, it is Luis Gil, open and shut.
04:02But the innings have piled up.
04:04He hasn't been the same, and Couser has just been on a tear.
04:07So I think it's probably his to lose, but I don't think that this is open and shut just
04:12yet.
04:13Well, I don't think it should be, that's for sure.
04:15It's funny when you just look at Couser's stats, overall, for the season, you think,
04:21all right, those are pretty good, I guess.
04:23It really is, and he's been good.
04:26You have to obviously, for a rookie, that's what the award is.
04:31But I don't know.
04:32I just look at Gil, and maybe it's just a personal preference thing.
04:36I like that dominant pitcher.
04:37And you know, you really, again, you look at his game log.
04:41He had that three-start stretch that was bad, that really inflated his numbers.
04:46He came out of that stretch, had three straight starts where he allowed one earned run against
04:51some very good teams, you know, against the Red Sox, the Orioles, and the Mets, I believe.
04:57And the Yankees only went one and two in those starts, but it wasn't as if it was his fault.
05:02So I just find it very interesting that you put those odds up there, and they are what
05:07they are, because, you know, I think if I had a vote, I would pick Gil, and that's nothing
05:12against Couser or anyone else.
05:13I just think that pitcher who's been so good every fifth day that you can count on, that's
05:19the guy that I would rather give the award to.
05:21I think he's been the best rookie, and he's done it in a very tough place with a lot of
05:26pressure.
05:27So he'd get my vote, but yeah, I guess right now, the odds say otherwise.
05:32Yeah, and not over yet, as you said, still a month and a half to go.
05:35Okay, so the Cy Young Award picked up a little steam last night.
05:39Chris Sale is now a bigger favorite to win the Cy Young than he was 24 hours ago.
05:43And this is what happens, man, as we get closer to the end, there's less time for these other
05:47guys to catch up.
05:48So Chris Sale goes from about minus 115 to minus 140 after his performance against Blake
05:54Snell, great game last night.
05:55Zach Wheeler's plus 165.
05:57Paul Skeens has now fallen back from about four and five to one to plus 650.
06:02And I think that the stats compiling for both of these pitchers at the end of the season
06:06is just too much for Paul Skeens to overcome.
06:10But there's no question with six starts probably for both guys coming down the stretch, this
06:16could absolutely go either way.
06:17I mean, Sale could easily win it, but so could Wheeler.
06:19This is far from over.
06:21Yeah, I think with Skeens, when you're 40 to 60 innings behind the leaders, it's very
06:25tough to make up.
06:26And I just think the bottom line is Sale's been the better pitcher than Wheeler.
06:29Like that's it.
06:30You just look at the numbers, the Ks stand out so much.
06:33And that's not to take anything away from Wheeler.
06:35But just across the board, when you put it all together, Sale's been better.
06:38In fact, I think there's other pitchers in the National League who have been better that
06:42weren't on that list.
06:43So it's a very close race.
06:45I think Wheeler still has a chance if he has a very strong finish.
06:49But as long as Sale doesn't get hurt or completely collapse down the stretch, it's his award
06:53to lose it by eyes.
06:55I personally don't think it's particularly close, but again, maybe the voters think otherwise
07:00and it will be.
07:01Yeah, we'll see.
07:02I mean, Chris Sale, man, imagine me telling you Chris Sale's going to win the Cy Young
07:05and the Braves are on the verge of not making the playoffs.
07:07You never would have thought that would be the case.
07:09But here we are.
07:10Thanks again for coming on.
07:11Appreciate it.
07:12Appreciate it.