Baseball at the Break

The first half of the 2023 MLB season is in the books, and it's been an interesting one.  The entire AL East is better than the entire AL Central.  The A's, amid relocation talks and their fans' reverse boycott, looked like they'll be challenging the '62 Mets' record of futility, yet somehow managed to put together a nine-game winning streak.  Shohei Ohtani continued to do Shohei Ohtani things.  Luis Arraez is flirting with .400.  Domingo German went from excellent to a 10-game sticky stuff suspension to God awful to throwing a perfect game.  There's been the absolute brilliance of the Atlanta Braves and Tampa Bay Rays, the pleasant surprises that are the Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks, and plenty of disappointed fans in New York (both teams), San Diego and St. Louis.

Midseason is a good time to assess where things are, especially with the trade deadline coming up at the end of the month.  It's also a good time to take a look at who might be getting some hardware come the end of the season.  A lot can change over the next three months, of course, but my midseason award winners came to play in the first half.  So much so, in fact, that I don't think there's much debate about any of them.

AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, Angels-What's there left to say about Ohtani that hasn't been said already?  He's really good at baseball.  And he continues to find new ways to amaze.  Last year, it took an other-worldly season by Aaron Judge to keep Ohanti from winning the AL MVP.  This season, it hasn't been close.  He leads the AL in homers and RBIs, is third in both hits and runs, and is batting over .300.  Plus, all of the pitching stuff.

AL LVP: Josh Donaldson, Yankees-Yankees fans were finally put out of their mercy when Aaron Hicks was released in May, but Hicks doesn't suck anymore since signing with Baltimore.  No such luck for Josh Donaldson, who's now the primary target of the boos at Yankee Stadium.  He's hitting all of .152, and 10 of his 15 hits are homers.  That's right, he has five non-home runs all season.  And he only has 15 RBIs, so it's not even like his home runs come with somebody on base.

AL Cy Young: Shane McClanahan, Rays-You could make an argument for Ohtani to pull a Verlander/Kershaw and win both MVP and Cy Young in the same year.  I'm going with Tampa Bay ace Shane McClanahan, though.  He's 11-1 for the best team in the American League, and his 2.53 ERA is second behind Framber Valdez's 2.51.  In McClanahan's 17 starts, the Rays are 14-3.

AL Cy Old: Lance Lynn, White Sox-It really would be unfair to single out one of the Royals' pitchers for this "honor."  For one, none of them have been any good.  But neither is the rest of the team, so you can't really blame it entirely on them.  Lance Lynn, meanwhile, has gone out there and made his turn in the rotation for the White Sox every time.  Why?  I'm not sure.  He's 5-8 with a 6.03 ERA, second-worst among qualified starters, and his 22 home runs allowed are tied for the most in the American League.

AL Rookie: Josh Jung, Rangers-I think the only Rangers who didn't make the AL All*Star team are Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad.  One of those Texas All*Stars is rookie third baseman Josh Jung, who got the nod over such stalwarts as Jose Ramirez and Rafael Devers.  And deservedly so.  He's played 88 games and leads all AL rookies in hits (97), runs (62), homers (19) and RBIs (56), and he's tied for the AL rookie lead in doubles (19).

AL Manager: Bruce Bochy, Rangers-When Bochy retired as Giants manager after the 2019 season, he was already headed to Cooperstown.  Four years later, the Rangers coaxed him out of that retirement, and it turns out that might've been exactly what Texas needed.  Because the Rangers have led the AL West all season and hit the All*Star break at 52-38.  If/when they get a starting pitcher at the deadline, they'll be a very formidable team come October...with a manager who's won three World Series in his career.

NL MVP: Ronald Acuna Jr., Braves-Acuna's the best player on the best team in baseball.  He's also the best player in the National League.  Sometimes somebody's MVP case is just that simple.  Acuna's first in the NL in runs scored, first in stolen bases, first in OPS, second batting average, second in hits, second in slugging percentage, third on on-base percentage, fifth in doubles, and top 10 in both home runs and RBIs.  Freddie Freeman's the only other guy who belongs in the conversation, but even he doesn't come close.

NL LVP: Willson Contreras, Cardinals-On paper, it looked like a great signing.  Yadi Molina retired, the Cardinals needed a catcher, and Wilson Contreras was a pending free agent.  It all made perfect sense!  Except it didn't actually work out the way the Cardinals had hoped.  Contreras was so bad defensively behind the plate (and evidently was calling pitches that the pitchers didn't even have in their arsenals) that they moved him to the outfield and DH for a while.  Not the best way to start an $87.5 million, five-year deal.

NL Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers-Ho hum.  Clayton Kershaw is just adding to his Hall of Fame resume.  His greatness has become so expected it's bordering on boring.  This season, he's 10-4 with an NL-leading 2.55 ERA, and he'd probably be making his second straight All*Star Game start (after never having started prior to last year) if he wasn't currently in the midst of his yearly trip to the IL.

NL Cy Old: Jameson Taillon, Cubs-Taillon threw eight innings of one-hit ball at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.  That lowered his ERA to 6.15.  It was also the first time all season Taillon even pitched into the seventh.  He's actually been pitching better of late, but, needless to say, his first half wasn't exactly memorable.

NL Rookie: Corbin Carroll, Diamondbacks-This could easily be Reds sensation Elly de la Cruz at the end of the season, but at the All*Star break, Arizona's equally-electrifying Corbin Carroll gets the nod.  He's a big reason why the surprising Diamondbacks are leading the NL West.  His 18 home runs, 63 runs scored and 20 doubles lead NL rookies, and his 89 hits are one behind Cincinnati's Spencer Steer.  Carroll has also stolen 26 bases, second-most in the entire National League.

NL Manager: Torey Lovullo, Diamondbacks-Arizona has been in first place for most of the season.  That's right, in the NL West, a division that includes the powerhouse that is the Dodgers and a Padres team that was the consensus favorite for the NL pennant, it's Torey Lovullo's Diamondbacks leading at the All*Star break.  I could've gone with Brian Snitker, but most people expected the Braves to be this good.  No one saw the Diamondbacks coming, though, so Lovullo gets the nod.