Texas Rangers kick of awards season with multiple finalists

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When a team wins the World Series it is accepted that they did so because of the quality of the roster and coaching staff. On Sunday night Jonah Heim, Nathaniel Lowe, and Adolis Garcia were recognized as Gold Glove winners at their positions. Monday night the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) named the finalists for all of the major awards that will be unveiled next week. The four major awards are AL and NL Rookie of the Year,AL and NL Manager of the Year, AL and NL Cy Young Award, and AL and NL MVP. Texas finished with multiple finalists for those awards.

AL Manager of the Year

Bruce Bochy was named as a finalist for the AL Manager of the Year award. Bochy came in and completely turned around this organization. Texas won 68 games in 2022 prior to his arrival. In his first season they won 90 games and finished one win away from winning the AL West outright. He then took it to another level by leading this team through a difficult playoff journey that saw them knock off Kevin Cash and the Rays in two games,. Then Texas went to Baltimore and knocked off Brandon Hyde's Orioles squad that won over 100 games. Bochy then kept a cool hand through a difficult seven-game series against the Astros. Finally he guides Texas to their first World Series championship in franchise history.

Bochy has won this award just one time back in 1996 in his time with the San Diego Padres. He is not the favorite to win this award. I am sure he would much prefer the four World Series championships his teams have won over this Manager of the Year honor anyhow.

The other finalists for this award are Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash and Baltimore Orioles manager Brandon Hyde. Cash has won this award twice previous in 2020 and 2021. Hyde was a finalist in 2022 when he finished second. Their two teams finished first and second in the AL East. Both teams also were swept by Bruce Bochy and the Texas Rangers in the playoffs.

The AL Manager of the Year award will be announced live on MLB Network on Tuesday, November 14th.

AL MVP

Texas has been without a finalist for this award since 2012 when Adrian Beltre finished third in the voting. It was announced on Monday night that in 2023 Texas has two finalists for the award. Corey Seager and Marcus Semien finished in the top three of voting for the MVP.

It was widely expected that Seager would be named as a finalist for the award. The World Series MVP put together the best season of his career in 2023. He finished second in the batting race with a .327 batting average. He had 33 home runs, 96 RBIs, and had a 1.013 OPS on the season. He put all of these numbers up despite missing 43 games due to some injury issues early and in the middle of the season. Seager was clearly the best player for the World Series champion Texas Rangers and it showed throughout the regular season and into the postseason.

Marcus Semien had a great season as well, but it is still a surprise he is a finalist along with Corey Seager. Semien was Mr. Durable in 2023. He played in every game in the regular season and postseason. He set a major-league record with in plate appearances combined between the regular season and postseason with 835. He led the American League in runs scored and hits. He played excellent defense at second base. He had such a great season that when he struggled throughout much of the postseason it was a huge surprise. Texas had come to count on Semien to provide offense from the top of the order. It was very much welcomed when he returned to form in the last two games of the World Series and hit two home runs after hitting no postseason homr runs prior to gave four of the World Series.

The other finalist for the award is Shohei Ohtani. The two-way sensation who is currently a free agent had a great season as well for the fourth place Los Angeles Angels. Ohtani is in the running for his second MVP award in the last three years.

The AL MVP award will be announced live on MLB Network on Thursday, November 16th.

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