After finishing off one of the most magical seasons in New York Mets history that ended with their playoff run to the NLCS, New York is receiving some recognition from the Baseball Writers Association of America.
As expected, Francisco Lindor was named a finalist for the National League MVP Award. He is up against Shohei Ohtani (Los Angeles Dodgers) and Ketel Marte (Arizona Diamondbacks). As for the American League MVP, the finalists are Bobby Witt Jr. (Kansas City Royals), Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) and Juan Soto (New York Yankees).
New York Mets’ Francisco Lindor celebrates after reaching first base on a throwing error from Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy during the sixth inning in Game 2 of a baseball NL Championship Series, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in Los Angeles. Photo by Ashley Landis/AP Photo.
As for NL Manager of the Year, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was named a finalist. The two other finalists for the National League are Pat Murphy (Milwaukee Brewers) and Mike Shildt (San Diego Padres). For the American League, the Manager of the Year finalists are A.J. Hinch (Detroit Tigers), Matt Quatraro (Kansas City Royals) and Stephen Vogt (Cleveland Guardians).
This means that Lindor, Mendoza and all the rest of the finalists were among the top three vote-getters for those honors by the BBWAA.
Lindor and Mendoza both face significant competition in their bids to win the awards. Before dealing with a back injury in mid-Sept., there was a brief period where Lindor passed Ohtani in FanGraphs’ version of WAR. During that time, it seemed like Lindor had a solid chance to beat Ohtani in the MVP race. This is mainly because of his dominance at such an important defensive position at shortstop for the Mets, while Ohtani’s entire campaign is based on his offensive damage as Los Angeles’ designated hitter.
During the time that Lindor sat on the bench for eight consecutive games with injury, Ohtani added 22 hits, six home runs and eight stolen bases to his already historic offensive season. What likely sealed his case for the NL MVP award was his 6-6, three-home run, 10-RBI game on Sept. 19, against the Miami Marlins. The third finalist for MVP, Marte, also missed a good amount of time from late Aug. into Sept., which hurt his candidacy for the award.
For Mendoza, the situation is similar with high competition. Murphy is considered the favorite as he led the Brewers, who lost Corbin Burnes and Brandon Woodruff, to win the NL Central division title. The Brewers finished 93-69 with Murphy as manager, despite a payroll that is about one-third of the size of Mendoza’s Mets. However, Mendoza had very high stakes going into his rookie managerial season with the Mets. Mendoza rallied a New York team that lost their first five games of the regular season and was 11 games under .500 in late May to a 89-73 record and an NL Wild Card spot in a competitive race.
New York Mets manager Carlos Mendoza (64) greets players before Game 3 of the National League baseball playoff series against the Philadelphia Phillies, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024, in New York. Photo by Frank Franklin II/AP Photo.
Throughout the regular season, Mendoza received a lot of praise from the Mets about his clubhouse feel. A lot of the players recognized his ability to make “gut” decisions during games which quickly built a lot of trust within the team. From the start, New York’s players and staff were impressed by Mendoza’s work and abilities to manage a team.
The third finalist, Padres’ Shildt, took the NL West race down to the final week of the season, before falling to Los Angeles. The Padres finished with a 93-69 record and settled for a Wild Card berth. Shildt is not new to being considered for Manager of the Year as he won the award in 2019 with the St. Louis Cardinals. On the other hand, Mendoza and Murphy, as rookie managers, have never won the award.
One important factor to note is that the playoff performance does not factor into the voting of any BBWAA awards. All of the ballots were submitted by the BBWAA before the start of the postseason. MLB Network will announce the winners of their four major awards of the 2024 season next week. So may the best players and best managers win!