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AMERICAN LEAGUE:
AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera- Leading in two of the three Triple Crown stats (behind Chris Davis in home runs) and sporting a .457 on base average, Miguel is looking to be a back to back winner in the American League's MVP. In a close second, Chris Davis of Baltimore.
AL CY YOUNG: Max Scherzer- Dominating with a WHIP under 1 and second in the league in strike outs, Max is also leading the league in wins. He's finally lived up fully to the hype. In a close second place is Yu Darvish.
AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Nick Franklin- The second baseman for the Mariners is an early favorite, but there is no clear standout compared to the National League. Hopefully for this award, someone steps up in the second half. Franklin is not doing bad with a .288 batting average on a poor hitting team, but it is a weak rookie class for the AL this year.
AL BREAKOUT PLAYER: Chris Davis- A top ten hitter in the Triple Crown categories, he's carrying the Baltimore offense on his back and smashing home runs left and right. As of today he is at thirty-three home runs which is tied with his single season high. His teammate Manny Machado is a good second place on here. He gets on base for Davis and is on pace to break the single season doubles record this year.
AL ALL STAR TEAM: C Joe Mauer, 1B Chris Davis, 2B Robinson Cano, 3B Miguel Cabrera, SS Jed Lowrie, OF Jacob Ellsbury, OF Mike Trout, OF Nelson Cruz, SP Max Scherzer, SP Yu Darvish, SP Bartolo Colon, SP Felix Hernandez, SP Chris Sale, RP Joe Nathan, RP Grant Balfour
NATIONAL LEAGUE
NL MVP: Carlos Gonzalez- Leading the National League in home runs isn't his only achievement. He's played Gold Glove level defense, already has fifteen stolen bases, and a .300 plus batting average. He can very easily end up being a 30-30 player this season. Paul Goldschmidt comes in second place with similar numbers, except in stolen bases and runs scored.
NL CY YOUNG: Clayton Kershaw is the pick, but this is a very tight category. Kershaw has a WHIP below 1 and an ERA below 2 while dominating with strike outs. It will be tough to fend other pitcher such as Patrick Corbin, Jordan Zimmermann, Adam Wainwright, and Jason Grilli all have legitimate claims on the Cy Young title as well.
NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Jean Segura wins this award, although many will argue for players such as Puig, Miller, Fernandez, and Gattis. Segura plays shortstop, is in the top five in the National League in Batting Average and Stolen Bases, and shows enough pop to possibly hit over twenty this season. This could be a different result at the end of the season, but at the half way point, it's Segura.
NL BREAKOUT PLAYER: Patrick Corbin is 10-1 with a 2.40 ERA and a sub 1 WHIP. A case for Zimmermann could be made here, but Corbin wasn't expected to be half this good and he could have been even better. In June he went five starts in a row with an ERA in the two's and still did not receive a win.
NL ALL STAR TEAM: C Yadier Molina, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2B Matt Carpenter, 3B David Wright, SS Jean Segura, OF Carlos Gonzalez, OF Domonic Brown, OF Carlos Gomez, SP Clayton Kershaw, Patrick Corbin, Jordann Zimmermann, Adam Wainwright, Matt Harvey, RP Jason Grilli, RP Craig Kimbrel
