SB Nation Reacts: Early Favorites for AL Awards

Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across MLB. Each week, we send 30 polls to plugged in fans from each team. Astros fans, sign up HERE to join Reacts.

In spite of the craziness of a pandemic-driven 2020, there has been some quality baseball to watch this season. Albeit a shortened one, but sometimes you take what you can get.

As we’re on the cusp of September(!!!), the 2020 season will be drawing to a close soon. Various players, both familiar and not, have stepped up their game in these unusual times. Even in a season with 60 games, someone has to be recognized. For example, the overwhelming majority of fans have Mike Trout winning another AL MVP award. Interestingly enough, Trout isn’t the clear cut favorite by the numbers as he’s currently by the numbers as he ranks 11th in wRC+ (158) and fWAR (1.3) in the AL.

For the AL Cy Young award, Shane Bieber looks like the clear cut favorite with a 1.35 ERA and 2.1 fWAR in seven starts thus far. The voting results, although close between Bieber and Gerrit Cole, agrees with that position.

For the batting title. DJ LeMahieu is viewed as the favorite. With a .403 batting average in 20 games, the Yankees infielder should have a good shot at the honor, but he currently has company with Jose Iglesias posting a .406 batting average in 18 games. Remember that a lot of unusual things can occur in a 60 game season.

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