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NEW YORK (AP) — Now that the regular season is finally in the books Ron Santo Jersey , time to bestow baseball’s biggest individual prizes. It took one extra day to sort out the playoff bracket, but these debates have been underway for weeks.Christian Yelich seems a cinch for NL MVP, but is it Mookie Betts or Boston teammate J.D. Martinez in the American League?Jacob deGrom or Max Scherzer for the NL Cy Young Award?Shohei Ohtani or Miguel Andujar for AL Rookie of the Year?Martinez has been a monster at the plate in his first season with the Red Sox after signing a $110 million, five-year contract. He launched 43 home runs and led the majors with 130 RBIs. He compiled a 1.031 OPS and hit .330, finishing second to Betts (.346) in the batting race.All big reasons why Boston had the best record in baseball at 108-54.Hitting at the top of the order, Betts had 32 homers, 80 RBIs, 129 runs and a whopping 1.078 OPS.But on defense and the bases, it’s no comparison. Martinez started 57 games in the outfield but 93 at designated hitter. Betts, a sensational defender, started 115 games in right field and 13 in center. Plus, he stole 30 bases in 36 attempts.All those elite skills. That’s why he led the majors in wins above replacement with 10.9 (per baseball-reference.com).“I’d vote for Betts,” Baltimore manager Buck Showalter said. “The impact that he has defensively is what sets him over the top for me. I told people, he’s the best right fielder I’ve ever seen. He makes plays that people in the stands don’t realize are not routine. Throws well. Steals a base when he needs to. He’s special.”Angels star Mike Trout merits his annual look, along with Houston third baseman Alex Bregman, Cleveland infielder Jose Ramirez and Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor.But in the end, Betts is the clear winner after being runner-up to Trout two years ago.Voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America is conducted before the postseason opener Tuesday night, and results will be announced in November.Here are our selections for the other top awards:NATIONAL LEAGUE MVP: With a huge second half, Yelich practically carried Milwaukee to an NL Central championship and the best record in the league during his first season with the team. He came within a wisp of becoming the first Triple Crown winner in the National League since Joe “Ducky” Medwick in 1937. Yelich won the batting title with a .326 average and had 36 homers to go with 110 RBIs, 118 runs, 22 steals in 26 tries and a 1.000 OPS that led the league by a wide margin. He came through with three hits and an RBI as the Brewers beat the Cubs 3-1 on Monday in a one-game tiebreaker for the division crown at Wrigley Field.That’s how MVP awards are won, and this election won’t be close. Could be unanimous.“Down the stretch, he’s been willing that team it seems like. One night it’s the cycle, one night it’s a homer late http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-yolmer-sanchez-jersey , another night he walks five times. I think it’s Yelly,” said Don Mattingly, manager of the Miami Marlins team that traded Yelich last offseason.AL CY YOUNG: Young lefty Blake Snell of the Tampa Bay Rays wins with a 21-5 record and league-leading 1.89 ERA in 180 2/3 innings. But it should be a tighter vote than projected. The guy getting overlooked a bit is Houston ace Justin Verlander (16-9, 2.52), who had a lower WHIP than Snell in 214 innings. Verlander struck out a league-high 290 hitters and walked only 37. Incredible.NL CY YOUNG: At one point late in the season, this was a close and compelling three-way race between deGrom, Scherzer and Aaron Nola. And then deGrom left everyone in the dust, finishing with a major league-low 1.70 ERA in 217 innings. His pedestrian 10-9 record for a struggling New York Mets team that provided little support? Pretty irrelevant.Nola tailed off a bit with Philadelphia and went 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 212 1/3 innings. Scherzer, winner of two consecutive NL Cy Young Awards with Washington and the 2013 AL prize for Detroit, was 18-7 with a 2.53 ERA in 220 2/3 innings. He struck out 300 batters, 31 more than deGrom, but also gave up 13 more home runs.“I would say it’s still pretty close,” Mattingly said. “I’m probably like everybody else, because I’m kind of like, what Jacob’s doing is incredible, you know? Max, too, but Max has done it so many times. So I think deGrom wins it.”AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Maybe the toughest award to dissect, because one of the top candidates was a two-way player for a while. How much of a boost does Ohtani get for the 10 starts he made on the mound before his elbow injury put pitching on hold? The Japanese star went 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA and 63 strikeouts in 51 2/3 innings. Not to mention he batted .285 with 22 homers, 61 RBIs, 10 stolen bases and a .925 OPS in 367 plate appearances as a designated hitter. Pretty much unprecedented.Meanwhile, the steady Andujar hit .297 with 27 homers, 92 RBIs and an .855 OPS in 149 games as the everyday third baseman for a Yankees team that made the playoffs. Hard to compare.Ohtani wasn’t on the field all that much, but hey Adam Engel Jersey , it’s not an MVP award. Picking him seems more fun.NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Another close call. The impressive numbers for 20-year-old Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. and 19-year-old Washington slugger Juan Soto are remarkably similar. Acuna earns a slight edge for his speed and defense. “For me, just seeing Acuna straight up, I think he had a bigger impact on that club,” Mattingly said.AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: So difficult to choose between Oakland’s Bob Melvin and Tampa Bay’s Kevin Cash. They both did a masterful job despite a low payroll and little starting pitching. Melvin piloted the Athletics (97-65) to a surprise playoff berth, while the Rays somehow went 90-72 in a division that included the Red Sox and Yankees. Take a look at the two rosters, though. And while the A’s were adding help at the trade deadline, Tampa Bay was selling off veterans. So by the slimmest of margins, it’s Cash.NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR: Craig Counsell was our pick from a competitive field last year, even though Milwaukee fell short of the playoffs. He received three first-place votes but came in fourth. Often overlooked, Counsell gets the nod this time after the Brewers won their final eight regular-season games to finish 96-67 and overtake the favored Cubs in the NL Central. A close second is Brian Snitker, the 62-year-old skipper who did a wonderful job in guiding the Baby Braves to a surprise NL East title. DENVER — The St. Louis Cardinals‘ long road winning streak came to a crashing halt Saturday night. Now they will try to win the rubber game of their series with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday and capture their ninth straight series.Two left-handers will start Sunday, Austin Gomber (3-0, 2.98) for the Cardinals against Tyler Anderson (6-6, 4.45).Article continues below ...The Rockies (71-58) erupted for a season-high eight runs on 10 hits in the eighth inning Saturday and blasted the Cardinals 9-1, just their fifth loss in 23 games this month and first by more than one run.Cardinals starter John Gant gave up one run in seven innings, a pinch-hit homer in the seventh by former Cardinal Matt Holliday. Rockies starter German Marquez pitched seven scoreless innings before the Cardinals tied the game in the eighth.“Just a good old-fashioned pitchers dual in a hitters ballpark,” Cardinals interim manager Mike Schildt said. “We went to the bullpen, and they’ve been great. One of those days. Those days are going to happen. We’re not going to think too much about it. Just move forward.”The Cardinals (72-58) saw their nine-game road winning streak ended. They had not won 10 straight road games since they set and tied the club record of 12 straight victories on the road in 1941 and 1944.The last time the Cardinals won more than eight straight series was 2009 when they won 10 in a row.Gomber made his major league debut June 2 and pitched one scoreless inning against Colorado in relief on Aug. 1 at St. Louis. This will be his second appearance against the Rockies, and he’ll be the first rookie left-hander for the Cardinals to start at Coors Field since Marco Gonzales made his major league debut there on June 25, 2014.The Cardinals have won all five of Gomber’s starts, and he is 2-0, 2.73 in those games, limiting opponents to a .216 batting average, .685 OPS and two home runs in 26 1/3 innings.Gomber was not involved in the decision Monday at Los Angeles http://www.whitesoxfanproshop.com/authentic-matt-davidson-jersey , where he gave up two runs in five innings in St. Louis’ 5-3 win over the Dodgers.“He’s got weapons to pitch, obviously,” Shildt said. “He’s in attack mode most all the time. He’s a really good competitor. He’s developing a slider-cutter that’s helping him against the lefties a little bit more. He’s elevating with his fastball, throws to both sides of the plate, always has, really well. He’s got a good changeup. So, he’s got all the pitches to give us a quality start.”The Rockies have lost the past six games started by Anderson, who is 0-3, 6.88 in that stretch while allowing 10 home runs in 34 innings and an .876 OPS by opposing hitters. In his last start Tuesday against San Diego, Anderson allowed a season-high 10 hits, including two homers, and four runs in 6 1/3 innings and lost 4-3.“It isn’t like he’s lacking his stuff,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “The location’s been bad. The changeup’s been pretty effective, but the fastball and the cutter have not been his norm. He’s the type of guy that has got to locate. His margin for error’s a little bit less than Marquez or Jon (Gray.) So, he’s got to locate the ball. But he’s able to do that.”Anderson, who has made eight starts since he last won July 4 against San Francisco, has yielded 26 home runs in 147 2/3 innings, tied for the most in the National League this season.He’s 0-1, 4.15 in two starts against the Cardinals, including one this year. Anderson had a no-decision in Colorado’s 5-4 loss in 10 innings at St. Louis on July 30, allowing three hits, three walks and four runs in six innings.