Pete Crow-Armstrong, Jacob Misiorowski, Cam Schlittler and Yordan Alvarez are among the favorites to take home awards this week.\u00a0ESPNBradford DoolittleNov 10, 2026, 07:30 PM ETCloseMLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com Been with ESPN since 2013Multiple AuthorsOpen Extended ReactionsThe baseball offseason has felt pretty normal so far if you can put the overhanging labor negotiations out of your mind. Some of that normalcy comes from the gradual easing into the initial phases of the hot stove season — contract options, roster maneuvering, free agency filing — that point toward next season.That’s administrative stuff, though, and not as fun as the parade in Milwaukee — or this week, when MLB hands out its major awards in what closes the books on the 2026 season.This year’s awards week adds a new honor being handed out by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America: the Reliever of the Year Award, which recognizes the top bullpen maestro from each league. Here’s how this week’s schedule lays out:Wednesday: Cy Young and Reliever of the Year (7 p.m. ET, MLB Network) Thursday: MVP (7 p.m.<\/p>\n
ET, MLB Network)MLB Network will also air the MLB awards given out during a live ceremony in Las Vegas at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Honors presented then include the Hank Aaron Award, Comeback Player of the Year, Mariano Rivera & Trevor Hoffman Relievers of the Year, Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award and selections for the All-MLB first and second teams.Finalists for the major awards have already been announced. So let’s see how things look before the hardware is handed out.<\/p>\n
Who might win? Who should win?Jump to an award:MVP | CY Young | Reliever of the Year Rookie of the Year | Manager of the YearWinner: Will Venable, Chicago White SoxFinal tally: Venable 111 (15 first-place votes), Kevin Cash 98 (12), Chad Tracy 47 (3), Stephen Vogt 9, Aaron Boone 4, Joe Espada 1.Doolittle’s pick: VenableTakeaway: This is an award I’d never want to vote on. Sure, I have a system that rates managers, or rather, as I try to be transparent about, a system that seeks to measure factors that tend to correlate with Manager of the Year voting. Separately, I do think you can get a good feel for how a manager is impacting a specific team if you’re around it a lot.<\/p>\n
But I’m able to reach that criteria with only a handful of managers in a given year. There is so much beyond data you need to know before you can really judge how a manager is doing.I was exposed to Venable often this year, tracing back to spring training. It’s always impossible to know how your judgment is impacted by results. A team going well invariably leaves a strong impression.<\/p>\n
One that isn’t does not. That’s natural.With Venable, despite a couple of X’s and O’s mistakes, his connection to what was going on with a shockingly good White Sox team was apparent every step along the way. For a team that reached the playoffs, the White Sox turned over key roster spots consistently through the season, as an emerging ballclub should if it has the talent base to make it work. Through it all, the team and the roster always seemed like a cohesive continuation of what had already occurred.Then came early August, roughly speaking, when it became apparent that Chicago did not have enough resources to run a starting rotation in a typical manner through the rest of the season.<\/p>\n
The acquisition of Luis Castillo not only did not fix that problem, it made it worse. The White Sox, with Venable leading the way, went into improv mode, appropriate for the city that gave the world Second City. Craft a pitching plan today and worry about tomorrow when it arrives. Venable and his collaborators made it work.This year’s White Sox had no business coming within one win of an ALCS appearance.<\/p>\n
It was too much, too soon. Yet that’s exactly what happened. My metrics like Cash better, and he came close in the balloting. I love Cash as one of the two best managers in the game along with Pat Murphy.<\/p>\n
But anyone guiding a team that provided as much historical shock as did this year’s White Sox demands recognition. Venable more than deserves this honor.National LeagueWinner: Pat Murphy, Milwaukee BrewersFinal tally: Murphy 124 (20 first-place votes), Walt Weiss 86 (7), Don Mattingly 25 (1), Craig Stammen 24 (2), Dave Roberts 7, Craig Counsell 3, Don Kelly 1.Doolittle’s pick: MurphyTakeaway: It almost feels like Craig Counsell has become a villain in Murphy’s story, which isn’t at all fair. Yes, Counsell bolted, leaving his hometown team for a record contract with that club’s chief rival. But come on, Counsell just became manager of the Cubs.<\/p>\n
It’s not like he tied Bernie Brewer to some train tracks.Still, for Wisconsinites who feed off schadenfreude, this is a sweet time, even better than a stop at Mars Cheese Castle just off I-94 south of Milwaukee. The manager in which you believed betrayed you for the one team you wouldn’t want him to go to. His replacement, his mentor, the amiable but overlooked bench coach who is like a contemporary embodiment of Red Blow — the bench coach for Pop Fisher in “The Natural” — takes over. And in the first three seasons after that happens, he is named NL Manager of the Year.<\/p>\n
Also, lest we forget, in the third of those years, this grizzled coach gifts you the first World Series in franchise history.The Brewers’ title did not factor into the voting, but everything Pat Murphy did to put Milwaukee in position to achieve that title was already in place when the ballots were cast. Not the least of which was the 103 wins, a franchise record and far above where preseason forecasts had predicted the Brewers to be.My metrics have loved Murphy all through his tenure, though it has to be acknowledged that part of the perception around the Brewers overachieving stems from the fact that they are chronically underrated. Still, come on. Has any team in recent times been more explained or defined by the personality of its manager and the standards that he demands his club meet?One thing I loved about this season’s great World Series matchup is that it was a clash between two managers who really mattered.<\/p>\n
And Murphy and Cash are very, very different in the way they go about it. That in itself says something positive about where the game of baseball is given this point in time and a testament to how managers, as much as ever, really matter.Winner: Kevin McGonigle, Detroit TigersFinal tally: McGonigle 204 (28 first-place votes), Parker Messick 122 (2), Payton Tolle 54, Munetaka Murakami 39, Carter Jensen 31, Chase DeLauter 23, Kazuma Okamoto 17, Tristan Peters 12, Sam Antonacci 2, Travis Bazzana 2, Walbert Urena 2, Dylan Beavers 1, Henry Bolte 1Doolittle’s pick: McGonigleTakeaway: The cases for McGonigle and Guardians starter Messick were close by the numbers, so this seems to have come down to comparing an every-day player versus a starting pitcher. This result makes me wish we had separate rookie awards for hitters and pitchers, but I guess we already have plenty of awards.McGonigle was a great pick, though, and I’m a little relieved that he didn’t suffer in the voting because of his lack of big-time power numbers — not that 18 homers for a 21-year-old middle infielder is pedestrian. But he added value in so many ways.<\/p>\n
According to Baseball Reference, McGonigle’s final tally of 7.1 bWAR is the sixth best ever among AL position players.That kind of performance demands recognition. McGonigle is the first Tiger to win Rookie of the Year since Michael Fulmer in 2016. As for Messick, his week isn’t over: He’s also a Cy Young finalist.National LeagueWinner: Sal Stewart, Cincinnati RedsFinal tally: Stewart 170 (20 first-place votes), Carson Benge 107 (7), JJ Wetherholt 99 (3), Nolan McLean 70, TJ Rumfield 49, Logan Henderson 10, Bryce Eldridge 2, Didier Fuentes 2, A.J. Ewing 1.Doolittle’s pick: WetherholtTakeaway: I thought we were past this kind of voting, which I hate to write because I don’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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