Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Paul Skenes, more named finalists for MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year awards

Major League Baseball, in conjunction with the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), has announced the finalists for the 2025 major awards: Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. 

As a reminder, the voting was completed before the playoffs even started. In fact, ballots were due before the first pitch of the playoffs. That means these are regular-season awards. Further, there’s no voting after finalists are announced or anything like that. The word, “finalists,” is kind of misleading actually. The ballots have already been tabulated and the league office is simply revealing the top three vote-getters for each award to create a buzz before the winners are announced. 

The announcement schedule is as follows. 

Monday, Nov. 10: Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Awards

Tuesday, Nov. 11: Manager of the Year Awards

Wednesday, Nov. 12: Cy Young Awards

Thursday, Nov. 13: Most Valuable Player Awards

Onto the finalists. 

American League MVP 

Aaron Judge, Yankees: The two-time MVP hit .331/.457/.688 (215 OPS+) with 30 doubles, 53 home runs, 114 RBI, 137 runs, 12 steals and 9.7 WAR. Should Judge win, he’d join a list of 12 players to have won three MVPs or more, including fellow Yankees Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Alex Rodriguez (though he won one with the Rangers). 

Cal Raleigh, Mariners: He hit .247/.359/.589 (169 OPS+) with 24 doubles, 60 home runs, 125 RBI, 110 runs, 14 steals and 7.3 WAR, becoming the first catcher and first switch-hitter to ever get to 60 home runs. The Mariners only have two MVPs in their history (Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997, Ichiro Suzuki in 2001). 

José Ramírez, Guardians: He’s been the runner-up before and has finished third twice. He’s all but guaranteed to come in third again. This will mark his seventh top-six finish in voting without having won the award. This time around, he hit .283/.360/.503 (137 OPS+) with 34 doubles, 30 home runs, 85 RBI, 103 runs, 44 steals and 5.8 WAR. 

American League Cy Young

Hunter Brown, Astros: The 26-year-old right-hander had a breakout season, going 12-9 with a 2.43 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and 206 strikeouts against 57 walks in 185 ⅓ innings. Thanks to the Prospect Promotion Incentive, the Astros get a compensatory draft pick by virtue of Brown being in the top three.

Garrett Crochet, Red Sox: In 205 ⅓ innings, Crochet struck out 255 against 46 walks. He was 18-5 with a 2.59 ERA in his first year with the Red Sox. The last Red Sox pitcher to win the Cy Young was Rick Porcello in 2016.

Tarik Skubal, Tigers: The American League hasn’t had a repeat Cy Young winner since Pedro Martinez in 1999-2000, but Skubal has a great shot here to go back-to-back. Last year’s Cy Young winner was 13-6 with a 2.21 ERA, 0.89 WHIP and 241 strikeouts compared to only 33 walks in 195 ⅓ innings.

American League Rookie of the Year

Roman Anthony, Red Sox: Anthony only appeared in 71 games, but he got his money’s worth. He hit .292/.396/.463 (140 OPS+) with 18 doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 32 RBI, 48 runs, four steals and 3.1 WAR. 

Nick Kurtz, Athletics: Though he didn’t debut until April 23, Kurtz put up some serious numbers, finishing with 36 home runs. He also hit .290/.383/.619 (173 OPS+) with 26 doubles, two triples, 86 RBI, 90 runs and 5.4 WAR. 

Jacob Wilson, Athletics: He started the All-Star Game and hit .311/.355/.444 (121 OPS+) with 26 doubles, 13 home runs, 63 RBI, 62 runs and 2.9 WAR. There have been eight A’s Rookies of the Year, but none since Andrew Bailey in 2009. 

American League Manager of the Year

John Schneider, Blue Jays: Again, keep in mind that ballots were cast before the playoffs started, so Schneider can’t get credit for winning the Blue Jays’ first pennant since 1993. Still, they led the AL in wins and won their first AL East title since 2016. This after they finished in last place in 2024. 

Stephen Vogt, Guardians: The Guardians won the AL Central for the second straight year, but this one was historic. They trailed the Tigers by as many as 15 ½ games and they were down by 11 with 23 games to play. They went 19-4 to finish the season as division champs.

Dan Wilson, Mariners: The Mariners won the AL West for the first time since 2001. They did so on the strength of a furious finish. They won 17 out of 18 games to clinch the division before the final series of the season. They were 3 ½ games out of first before the stretch.

National League MVP

Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers: There isn’t really suspense here, so we don’t need to pretend otherwise. Ohtani is going to win this award and join Barry Bonds as the only players in history with at least four MVPs. Bonds has seven and this will be Ohtani’s fourth. This season, he hit .282/.392/.622 (179 OPS+) with 25 doubles, nine triples, 55 home runs, 102 RBI, 146 runs, 20 stolen bases and 6.6 WAR on the offensive side. On the mound, he was 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA, 1.04 WHIP and 62 strikeouts against nine walks in 47 innings.

Kyle Schwarber, Phillies: Schwarber had never finished higher in MVP voting than 15th. This season, he played in all 162 games, hitting .240/.365/.563 (150 OPS+) with 56 homers, 132 RBI and 111 runs. He led the NL in home runs and the majors in RBI. 

Juan Soto, Mets: Soto had previously never stolen more than 12 bases in a season, but he shockingly led the NL this year with 38. He also had 43 home runs, 105 RBI, 120 runs and hit .263/.396/.525 (160 OPS+) with 6.2 WAR. 

National League Cy Young

Cristopher Sánchez, Phillies: Sánchez led the majors in pitcher WAR with 8.0. He became the Phillies ace this season with Zack Wheeler getting injured late. Sánchez was 13-5 with a 2.50 ERA, 1.06 WHIP and 212 strikeouts against 44 walks. 

Paul Skenes, Pirates: The 2024 Rookie of the Year finished third in this race last season. This time around, he went 10-10 with a 1.97 ERA (best in the majors), 0.95 WHIP and 216 strikeouts against 42 walks in 187 ⅔ innings. He had 7.6 WAR. There have only been two Pirates Cy Young winners (Vernon Law in 1960 and Doug Drabek in 1990). 

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers: If this did include the postseason, maybe Yamamoto would win it. It does not, though. In the regular season, he went 12-8 with a 2.49 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 201 strikeouts in 173 ⅔ innings with 5.0 WAR. 

National League Rookie of the Year

Drake Baldwin, Braves: The 24-year-old catcher hit .274/.341/.469 (126 OPS+) with 18 doubles, 19 home runs, 80 RBI, 56 runs and 3.3 WAR. The Braves have a rich history of winning this award, with nine of them, most recently Michael Harris II in 2022.

Caleb Durbin, Brewers: Coming over in the trade that sent Devin Williams to the Yankees, Durbin hit .256/.334/.387 (101 OPS+) with 25 doubles, 11 homers, 53 RBI, 60 runs, 18 steals and 2.9 WAR. Only three Brewers have ever won this award, most recently Williams in 2020.

Cade Horton, Cubs: In only 23 outings, Horton went 11-4 with a 2.67 ERA (144 ERA+), 1.09 WHIP and 97 strikeouts in 118 innings. The last Cubs Rookie of the Year was Kris Bryant in 2015.

National League Manager of the Year

Terry Francona, Reds: After a year off, Francona went from Cleveland to the other Ohio team and took the Reds to the playoffs for the first time in a full season since 2013.

Pat Murphy, Brewers: Only twice ever has a manager won this award in back-to-back years (Bobby Cox in 2004-05 and Kevin Cash in 2020-21). Murphy is looking to join the list after the Brewers led the majors in wins this season with 97. 

Rob Thomson, Phillies: The Phillies won the NL East for the second straight season under Thomson after having not won it previously since 2011. They finished 96-66, their best record since 2011.