Jacob deGrom, Mookie Betts in the mix for historic NL awards

New York Mets ace Jacob deGrom is going for his third consecutive NL Cy Young Award, and Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts could become second player to win MVP award in each league.

competition, of course, is tough.

DeGrom, Trevor Bauer and Yu Darvish are top finishers for NL Cy Young Award in balloting by Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Betts, Freddie Freeman and Manny Macho are finalists for NL MVP.

top three finishers for each BBWAA award were revealed on Monday. winners will be anunced next week.

DeGrom could join Randy Johnson and Greg Mdux as only pitchers to win at least three consecutive Cy Young Awards. But Bauer h an NL-best 1.73 ERA in 11 starts for Cincinnati, and Darvish went 8-3 with a 2.01 ERA in 12 starts for Chicago Cubs, matching Cleveland Indians ace Shane Bieber for major league le in wins.

Betts, who won 2018 AL MVP award with Boston, helped Dodgers win World Series for first time since 1988. Frank Robinson is only player to win MVP award in each league, accomplishing feat in 1961 with Cincinnati and 1966 for Baltimore.

Balloting for BBWAA awards was completed before start of postseason.

Freeman batted .341 with 13 homers and 53 RBIs for NL East champion Atlanta Braves, and Macho hit .304 with 16 homers and 47 RBIs for San Diego Pres.

Bieber joined Minnesota Twins right-hander Kenta Maeda and Toronto Blue Jays left-hander Hyun Jin Ryu as finalists for AL Cy Young Award. Bieber is heavy favorite after 25-year-old right-hander went 8-1 with a 1.63 ERA and 122 strikeouts in 77 1/3 innings, leing majors in wins, ERA and strikeouts.

“My confidence continues to grow just from coming into season or into league in 2018,” Bieber said on MLB Network. “Learning my stuff, figuring it out, continuing to sharpen breaking stuff and trying to d velocity as much as I can from year to year has been big thing for me.”

Chicago White Sox first baseman José Abreu, Cleveland Indians infielder José Ramírez and New York Yankees leoff man DJ LeMahieu are top three finishers in voting for AL MVP award.

LeMahieu, who hit a big league-best .364, and Bauer are free nts after starring during pandemic-shortened season.

top finishers in voting for AL Manr of Year are Tampa Bay's Kevin Cash, Toronto's Charlie Montoyo and Rick Renteria, who was let go by Chicago White Sox after team me playoffs for first time since 2008.

Cash was roundly criticized for pulling ace left-hander Blake Snell in sixth inning of decisive Game 6 of World Series against champion Los Angeles Dodgers.

Miami's Don Mattingly, San Diego's Jayce Tingler and Cubs' David Ross are finalists for NL Manr of Year. Tingler and Ross just completed ir first seasons as big league skippers.

finalists for AL Rookie of Year are Houston Astros right-hander Cristian Javier and center fielders Kyle Lewis of Seattle Mariners and Luis Robert of White Sox. Philelphia Phillies infielder Alec Bohm, San Diego Pres infielder Jake Cronenworth and Milwaukee Brewers reliever Devin Williams are top finishers for NL rookie award.

Im credits: AP