Max’s Sporting Studio Award Voting
After the season came to a close, 19 of our writers here at Max’s Sporting Studio came together to vote for our 2020 award winners. We each submitted a ten-player ballot for AL and NL MVP, as well as AL and NL Cy Young. We submitted five-player ballots for AL and NL Rookie of the Year. We also submitted three-player ballots for AL and NL Manager of the Year, as well as AL and NL Reliever of the Year.
The results were tallied per the traditional scoring system, with a first place MVP or Cy Young vote receiving 10 points, second place receiving 9 points, etc. with 10th place receiving one point. A similar process was followed for the other awards, with 5 points awarded to first place for Rookie of the Year, and 3 points awarded to first place for Reliever and Manager of the Year.
*Note that the charts below will appear best on the desktop version of the site. For the best viewing experience on mobile, turn your phone to landscape orientation. The full results, including individual ballots, are also linked at the bottom of the article.
AL MVP
Three players received first place votes for AL MVP, led by Jose Ramirez with 12. Jose Abreu received four first place votes and finished second overall, and Shane Bieber received three first place votes and finished third. DJ LeMahieu and Mike Trout rounded out the top 5.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | 6th place | 7th place | 8th place | 9th place | 10th place |
| Jose Ramirez | 160 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Jose Abreu | 141 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Shane Bieber | 134 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| DJ LeMahieu | 116 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| Mike Trout | 109 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 4 | ||||||
| Anthony Rendon | 75 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Tim Anderson | 59 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Brandon Lowe | 51 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 4 | 1 | ||||
| Nelson Cruz | 49 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |||||
| Luke Voit | 37 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||
| Kenta Maeda | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |||||||
| Teoscar Hernandez | 5 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Xander Bogaerts | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| Salvador Perez | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Mark Canha | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Hyun-Jin Ryu | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| Dylan Bundy | 1 | 1 |
NL MVP
NL MVP saw three players receive first place votes, with Freddie Freeman grabbing 16, Fernando Tatis Jr. getting two, and Juan Soto getting one. Nobody could come to a consensus on Soto, who received a runner-up and two third place votes, but also received one vote as low as ninth place. Freeman, Tatis, Mookie Betts, Soto, and Manny Machado comprised the top 5.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | 6th place | 7th place | 8th place | 9th place | 10th place |
| Freddie Freeman | 187 | 16 | 3 | ||||||||
| Fernando Tatis Jr. | 143 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 1 | |||||
| Mookie Betts | 124 | 6 | 8 | 1 | |||||||
| Juan Soto | 105 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | ||
| Manny Machado | 88 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Marcell Ozuna | 80 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||
| Mike Yastrzemski | 56 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| Trea Turner | 55 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |||
| Yu Darvish | 26 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Jacob deGrom | 20 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||||
| Ronald Acuña | 19 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ||||||
| Trevor Bauer | 18 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Corey Seager | 11 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Bryce Harper | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||
| Trevor Story | 4 | 2 | |||||||||
| Michael Conforto | 4 | 4 | |||||||||
| Brandon Belt | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| Dominic Smith | 1 | 1 |
AL Cy Young
AL Cy Young was the first unanimous vote, with Shane Bieber receiving all 19 votes. Kenta Maeda easily took second on the strength of 10 second place votes. Lucas Giolito, Hyun-Jin Ryu, and Gerrit Cole rounded out the top 5, with Cole narrowly edging Dylan Bundy for fifth.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | 6th place | 7th place | 8th place | 9th place | 10th place |
| Shane Bieber | 190 | 19 | |||||||||
| Kenta Maeda | 143 | 10 | 4 | 3 | |||||||
| Lucas Giolito | 107 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Hyun-Jin Ryu | 89 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 1 | ||||
| Gerrit Cole | 81 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Dylan Bundy | 80 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Zack Greinke | 53 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||||
| Dallas Keuchel | 51 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Marco Gonzales | 31 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Framber Valdez | 25 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||
| Lance Lynn | 24 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||
| Carlos Carrasco | 22 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | ||||||
| Zach Plesac | 8 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| Liam Hendriks | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | |||||||
| Chris Bassitt | 6 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| Tyler Glasnow | 6 | 2 | |||||||||
| James Karinchak | 1 | 1 |
NL Cy Young
The NL Cy Young vote was, as expected, a three player battle between Jacob deGrom, Trevor Bauer, and Yu Darvish. deGrom took the crown, getting nine first place votes, while Bauer and Darvish tied for second. While Bauer had one more first place vote, Darvish had two extra second place votes and one less third place vote. Dinelson Lamet and Corbin Burnes rounded out the top 5, with Burnes grabbing a stray second place vote. Notably, Darvish finished ahead of both deGrom and Bauer in the NL MVP voting.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place | 6th place | 7th place | 8th place | 9th place | 10th place |
| Jacob deGrom | 168 | 9 | 6 | 3 | |||||||
| Trevor Bauer | 149 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 1 | ||||||
| Yu Darvish | 149 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 1 | ||||||
| Dinelson Lamet | 104 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 1 | ||||||
| Corbin Burnes | 87 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 1 | ||||||
| Brandon Woodruff | 56 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Luis Castillo | 52 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 1 | ||||||
| Aaron Nola | 38 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 | |||||
| Max Fried | 30 | 2 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Kyle Hendricks | 18 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |||||||
| Devin Williams | 15 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Clayton Kershaw | 10 | 2 | |||||||||
| Zac Gallen | 10 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||||||
| Zack Wheeler | 9 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||||||
| Max Scherzer | 7 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| German Marquez | 5 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||
| Ian Anderson | 4 | 1 | |||||||||
| Tony Gonsolin | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Kwang-Hyun Kim | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Sixto Sanchez | 1 | 1 |
AL Rookie of the Year
Kyle Lewis won the AL Rookie of the year handily, grabbing 17 of the 19 first place votes. Luis Robert finished second, receiving 10 second place votes. Sean Murphy and James Karinchak each received a first place vote, but finished third and fourth, respectively and not appearing on every ballot. Justus Sheffield rounded out the top 5.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place |
| Kyle Lewis | 89 | 17 | 1 | |||
| Luis Robert | 56 | 10 | 4 | 2 | ||
| Sean Murphy | 30 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| James Karinchak | 25 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Justus Sheffield | 23 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 4 | |
| Willi Castro | 15 | 1 | 4 | 3 | ||
| Ryan Mountcastle | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Cristian Javier | 5 | 1 | 2 | |||
| Jesus Luzardo | 5 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Randy Arozarena | 2 | 2 | ||||
| Randy Dobnak | 1 | 1 |
NL Rookie of the Year
In the closest race, Devin Williams edged Jake Cronenworth by just one point, though Williams received 10 first place votes to Cronenworth’s four. Alec Bohm and Ke’Bryan Hayes finished third and fourth, respectively, with Bohm getting one first place vote and Hayes getting four. Tony Gonsolin rounded out the top 5 as the only other player with multiple top four votes.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | 4th place | 5th place |
| Devin Williams | 71 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Cronenworth | 70 | 4 | 8 | 6 | ||
| Alec Bohm | 43 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| Ke’Bryan Hayes | 36 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| Tony Gonsolin | 30 | 6 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Ian Anderson | 4 | 4 | ||||
| Dustin May | 3 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Sixto Sanchez | 3 | 1 | ||||
| David Peterson | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Kwang-Hyun Kim | 1 | 1 |
AL Manager of the Year
Kevin Cash took AL Manager of the Year easily, receiving 16 first place votes. Rick Renteria, Bob Melvin, and Charlie Montoyo each received one first place vote, and Rocco Baldelli rounded out the top 5.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
| Kevin Cash | 52 | 16 | 2 | |
| Rick Renteria | 14 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Bob Melvin | 14 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Charlie Montoyo | 13 | 1 | 2 | 6 |
| Rocco Baldelli | 7 | 3 | 1 | |
| Terry Francona | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Sandy Alomar Jr. | 2 | 1 | ||
| Dusty Baker | 1 | 1 | ||
| Mike Matheny | 1 | 1 | ||
| Scott Servais | 1 | 1 |
NL Manager of the Year
Jayce Tingler edged Don Mattingly for NL Manager of the year, receiving 10 first place votes while Mattingly received more down-ballot votes. Brian Snitker received two first place votes and finished third. Mike Shildt received one first place vote and finished fourth. Dave Roberts and David Ross tied for fifth, though Roberts received a first place vote while Ross did not.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
| Jayce Tingler | 36 | 10 | 2 | 2 |
| Don Mattingly | 28 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
| Brian Snitker | 15 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Mike Shildt | 9 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dave Roberts | 6 | 1 | 3 | |
| David Ross | 6 | 2 | 2 | |
| David Bell | 3 | 3 | ||
| Craig Counsell | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Gabe Kapler | 2 | 1 |
AL Reliever of the Year
The Indians and A’s dominated the AL Reliever of the Year voting, grabbing the top four spots. Liam Hendriks won on the strength of 15 first place votes. James Karinchak, Brad Hand, Jake Diekman, and Nick Anderson rounded out the top 5, with all except Hand receiving at least one first place vote.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
| Liam Hendriks | 49 | 15 | 2 | |
| James Karinchak | 28 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
| Brad Hand | 13 | 3 | 7 | |
| Jake Diekman | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Nick Anderson | 4 | 1 | 1 | |
| Mike Mayers | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Greg Holland | 1 | 1 | ||
| Jalen Beeks | 1 | 1 | ||
| Alex Colome | 1 | 1 | ||
| Zack Britton | 1 | 1 |
NL Reliever of the Year
Devin Williams took the NL Reliever of the Year crown in the second unanimous vote. Edwin Diaz, Raisel Iglesias, and Drew Pomeranz rounded out the top 4. Jake McGee, Brandon Kintzler, Kenley Jansen, and Jeremy Jeffress each tied for fifth place with two points each.
| Player | Total Points | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
| Devin Williams | 57 | 19 | ||
| Edwin Diaz | 23 | 8 | 7 | |
| Raisel Iglesias | 15 | 6 | 3 | |
| Drew Pomeranz | 4 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jake McGee | 2 | 2 | ||
| Brandon Kintzler | 2 | 2 | ||
| Kenley Jansen | 2 | 1 | ||
| Jeremy Jeffress | 2 | 1 |
You can view the full results and individual ballots here.
