With roughly four weeks remaining regular season, it’s time to check in on our American League awards future bets.
There is a heavy favorite in the much-debated AL MVP race, while the Cy Young battle is coming down to the wire between a two-time winner and a first-time hopeful. The AL Rookie of the Year race also has a clear favorite.
These players have approximately 20 or so games left to make their case before voters deliver their ballots. Postseason play is not a factor in these awards.
Here are the updated AL awards markets at SI Sportsbook.
Aaron Judge -1613
Shohei Ohtani +500
Jose Ramirez +10000
Aaron Judge has pulled strongly into the lead in this two-man race. Judge is on pace for 64 home runs and leads MLB with 55 long balls, and he just swiped his career-high 16th stolen base last Wednesday. The Yankees, despite an August skid, are firmly in the playoff picture. Judge is hitting .457 with four home runs in September, strengthening his hold on this award as we come into the final weeks. If you had bet on Judge before the season started, your bet would pay you 16-1.
If you want to pivot and bet on Shohei Ohtani, 5-1 odds are decent. Ohtani, quite simply, is the best all-around player in baseball. He’s pitched to a 2.55 ERA (ninth-best) with 12 strikeouts per nine (first), all while hitting .266 with 34 home runs (tied for fifth-most). The Angels are already mathematically eliminated from the postseason, which is the only strike against Ohtani repeating.
What Ohtani is doing is so incredible, he would get my vote.
Dylan Cease -120
Justin Verlander -110
Shane McClanahan +3000
Shohei Ohtani +6000
This race is down to two: Dylan Cease and Justin Verlander. I listed Ohtani above just to show how good he has been.
Cease has been phenomenal this year, getting stronger as the season has progressed. Cease owns the fourth best K-rate in MLB (11.4 per nine) and the second-best ERA (2.06). The White Sox are in a tight race for the AL Central and a division title would do a lot to solidify Cease’s chances.
Though Cease strikes out batters at a much higher rate than Verlander (9.12 per nine innings), he also walks them at an extraordinarily high rate (3.7 per nine innings). That could get Cease into trouble down the stretch.
Verlander is having arguably the best season of all time after returning from Tommy John Surgery, leading the AL in wins (16) and MLB in ERA (1.84) However, he’s sidelined with a calf strain, leaving Cease the chance to close the gap in wins.
Luckily, I took Verlander at 16-1 odds to start the season. We recommended both Cease and Verlander to start the season and we hope you capitalized too!
Julio Rodriguez -1150
Adley Rutschman +950
Adley Rutschman has been fantastic since joining the Orioles midseason, getting even stronger as the season has progressed. Rutschman is hitting .252 with 10 homers across 92 games and hitting .280 since the All-Star Break, but it simply can’t compete with the impression Julio Rodriguez is making in the big leagues.
Rodriguez, who just signed a $210 million contract that could max out at an MLB record $470 million, is the rightful front runner for this award.
Besides mashing 81 total home runs in this year’s Home Run Derby and setting a record for most home runs by a rookie in the opening round of a Derby (32), Rodriguez is hitting .277 with 25 home runs and 24 stolen bases.
The Mariners are firmly in the AL wild card hunt and Rodriguez is the reason why. Rodriguez had 6-1 odds to win this award before the season started.
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