Insider Projects MLB Major Award Winners (& Runners-Up)

Shohei Ohtani, LA Dodgers celebrates home run

With only 10 days remaining in the 2025 season, the major award frontrunners are coming into focus. With that, insider and former MLB GM Jim Bowden has offered his projections for each of the award winners he expects to see when they're announced this October.

And we'll start with the most hotly-contested battle in the sport, American League MVP:

MVP

AL: Aaron Judge, NY Yankees, over Cal Raleigh, Seattle Mariners
NL: Shohei Ohtani, LA Dodgers, over Kyle Schwarber, Philadelphia Phillies

With Raleigh demolishing the all-time record for home runs by a catcher, with 56 (as of this writing, but could change at any moment), he also leads the majors in that department this year, and has been the power source that has carried the Mariners to their current first-place standing in the AL West (by half-game, going into Wednesday's games).

But while Raleigh will win the HR crown, Judge leads the AL in runs scored, walks, batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS and OPS+.

But if the M's are able to pull out the division, and a Raleigh bomb is responsible, this writer says that he'll take this award.

In the NL, Schwarber's season has been as dominant as they come, with 53 homers, a major league best 128 ribbies and a .943 OPS.

But being "only" a DH could work against him, as Ohtani, the other "DH" in this race, not only leads the NL in slugging (.611), OPS (1.006), OPS+ (177) and runs (136), he also has a 3.29 ERA on the mound in 13 appearances, with a 54:9 strikeout to walk ratio for 11.9 K/9. And, after all, he is Shohei Ohtani.

Cy Young Award

AL: Tarik Skubal, Detroit Tigers over Garret Crochet, Boston Red Sox
NL: Paul Skenes, Pittsburgh Pirates over Cristopher Sanchez, the Philadelphia Phillies

Both Skubal and Crochet have had tremendous Cy-worthy seasons, but Skubal is in line for his second straight award, with his 13-5 record, 2.26 ERA, and a 224:28 strikeout to walk ratio, for 11.0 K/9. Crochet leads the league in strikeouts (240) and K/9 (11.3).

In the NL, this would be the most lopsided race, with Skenes' impending victory looking like a sure thing all season long.

The Pirates' young superstar has a 1.92 ERA with a 203:39 strikeout to walk ratio over 178 innings. As Bowden notes from Skenes' Baseball Savant page, opposing batters are hitting just .202 against his four-seamer, .140 against his sweeper and .085 against the changeup.

For Rookie of the Year, Bowden has Nick Kurtz of the A's in the AL, and catcher Drake Baldwin of the Atlanta Braves in the NL.

Jacob deGrom was his easy pick for Comeback Player of the Year in the AL, but in the NL, amidst a slew of not overly impressive candidates, he went with Sandy Alcantara, despite his 5.53 ERA.