The 2024 Major League Baseball season has arrived. We’ve already put together our team-wide predictions, from division winners to pennants to the World Series championship picks. Now in this very space, it’s time for the individual awards predictions.
Between Shohei Ohtani taking AL MVP, Gerrit Cole taking AL Cy Young and possibly even the Ronald Acuña Jr. NL MVP win, things were a bit chalky last season. Still, very, very few had Blake Snell taking the NL Cy Young and every season brings with it plenty of unknown. We’re bound to hit some and miss some here.
Not only is it a fun discussion for all of us, but there’s a big market in the gambling community on awards futures.
We’ll throw some of the odds for those interested after our picks, but first let’s check out the individual awards picks from the members of the CBS Sports MLB staff, starting with the AL.
American League
National League
Anderson: I don’t know that any of these selections qualify as surprises. Maybe Castillo, but he’s been a reliably good starting pitcher at the big-league level, and he finished fifth in Cy Young Award voting last year. Otherwise, my guiding principle was to pick fresh winners, even if it proves to be overzealous in the cases of Tatis, Castillo, Henderson, and others.
Axisa: The awards races feel wide open to me this year, particularly with Gerrit Cole hurt and thus not a Cy Young candidate. Rutschman is the best player on what is likely to be the best team in the AL this year, and that always equals tons of MVP support. Langford feels like a slam dunk Rookie of the Year pick with Jackson Holliday starting the season in the minors. I know Yamamoto had a very rough debut last week, but he’s so talented, and I expect him to settle in quickly. He is Rookie of the Year eligible despite all his success in Japan. I considered making him my NL Cy Young pick before that rough first game. The Manager of the Year award tends to go to the manager of the team that most exceeded expectations, and I have the Tigers and Padres making the postseason, so Hinch and Shildt it is.
Feldman: I picked Langford over Holliday for ROY even before the Orioles chose not to bring their top prospect north and I stand by it. You can argue Holliday has a higher floor but when you hit homers as big and loud as Langford does, who cares? As for the rest, it’s hard to bet against Juan Soto, especially with the Yankee Stadium short porch, and it just feels like the Braves are going to figure out how to turn back Chris Sale’s clock to 2015. Yamamoto looked awful in his debut but who among us hasn’t had a bad day at work? They’re not particularly revolutionary picks, but the best is the best.
Perry: I definitely see the case for Soto or one of the young core Orioles as MVP, but I think Alvarez is going to be generally healthy this season and pace the AL in homers while running an OBP north of .400. As for Rodón, the guess here is that he rediscovers his 2021-22 form. I’m close to predicting 300 strikeouts for Strider, but I can’t quite make that leap. Even so, he’s the top strikeout artist among starting pitchers right now, and I think that core skill will carry him to the award in 2024. Betts will continue producing at peak level with the bat while manning the premium position of shortstop. That’s an MVP.
Pianovich: In baseball, you’re either on a streak or you’re due. Did you know no catcher has won an MVP award since Buster Posey in 2012? Catchers are due and Adley Rutschman will have his best season yet. Fernando Tatis Jr. will likewise have the best season of his MLB career so far, getting the Padres to push the Dodgers for the NL West title in the process. Spencer Strider and Luis Castillo are going to strike a lot of guys out while improving their run prevention numbers from last year. I almost always miss these picks, so hopefully I am due and not on a streak of being wrong.
Snyder: Julio has had a few bout of inconsistency in his first two seasons, but he’s ready for a fully fledged MVP campaign now. It makes it easier without a two-way superstar in the league, too. I did have Gerrit Cole repeating as the Cy Young winner, but it’s wide open after his injury. I’ll go with the underrated Astros workhorse. Tatis got a late start last season and that was after an entire year off. Now that the rust has been knocked off and he’s fully acclimated to his new position, he’s in for a monster season. I already loved Logan Webb, but getting Matt Chapman behind him defensively made this pick even better.
Betting Odds
(All odds via Caesars Sportsbook on March 22)
AL MVP
- Juan Soto +500
- Julio Rodríguez +550
- Aaron Judge +750
- Corey Seager +1200
- Bobby Witt Jr. +1200
- Yordan Alvarez +1200
NL MVP
- Ronald Acuña Jr. +500
- Mookie Betts +700
- Freddie Freeman +850
- Fernando Tatis Jr. +850
- Shohei Ohtani +900
- Matt Olson +1000
AL Cy Young
- Corbin Burnes +800
- Framber Valdez +800
- Kevin Gausman +800
- Tarik Skubal +1000
- George Kirby +1200
- Luis Castillo +1300
NL Cy Young
- Spencer Strider +425
- Zack Wheeler +1000
- Freddy Peralta +1200
- Max Fried +1200
- Logan Webb +1200
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto +1300
AL Rookie of the Year
- Wyatt Langford +300
- Jackson Holliday +400
- Evan Carter +400
- Colt Keith +900
- Junior Caminero +1100
- Parker Meadows +1400
NL Rookie of the Year
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto +250
- Jung Hoo Lee +500
- Jackson Chourio +525
- Jackson Merrill +1000
- Shoto Imanaga +1200
- Michael Busch +1600
