MLB Awards Watch: Mike Trout and everyone else

Washington Nationals. Max Scherzer. 1. player. 90. <p>Workload matters, and it’s buoying Max Scherzer in a big way. Scherzer leads NL pitchers in bWAR (6.0) by a wide margin and he lands within the top three in the same metric according to FanGraphs. Much of that is due to the fact that Scherzer holds the NL lead with 203.2 innings pitched, and he has been lights-out throughout the campaign. At the moment, the right-hander boasts a 2.78 ERA with more than 11 strikeouts per 9 innings and Scherzer also leads the NL in strikeout-to-walk rate at 5.229. This isn’t a slam dunk in terms of the top spot, but Scherzer has nosed ahead for me this time around.</p>. SP

Noah Syndergaard. 2. player. 3. <p>Most people are heavily discounting Syndergaard based on his workload. “Thor” has pitched only 167 innings across 27 starts (28 appearances) and that is a large disparity when compared to the other contenders. Still, Syndergaard leads the entire NL in fWAR (5.8) while landing third in bWAR (4.6). He also trails only Scherzer in K/BB ratio. The fire-baller can also stand behind a very nice 2.48 ERA (2nd in NL) and 2.32 FIP, and that collection of numbers should allow Syndergaard to remain in the mix.</p>. SP. New York Mets

31. <p>With apologies to Jose Fernandez, Jon Lester, Kyle Hendricks, Tanner Roark, Johnny Cueto, and others, I’m rolling with Bumgarner. In fact, he was closer to being second on this list than he was to being fourth. Bumgarner’s workload is second only to Scherzer’s and the left-hander has eaten only four fewer innings in one fewer start than Washington’s ace. Bumgarner ranks within the top seven in both major WAR statistics and the former World Series MVP continues to cruise along in dominant fashion. The NL Cy Young race is wide open, but these are the three guys at the head of the pack for me.</p>. SP. San Francisco Giants. Madison Bumgarner. 3. player