The final postseason awards for Major League Baseball were handed out on Thursday, and there were no surprises, based on where things ended at the close of the season. But if you were prescient enough to make a winning bet back in March, good money was made.
MVP Winners
By the time the end of September was here, Aaron Judge was -10000 to win the American League MVP award, and Shohei Ohtani was paying -1400 to win the National League MVP. Both won in unanimous landslides, and Ohtani became just the second player in MLB history to win the MVP in both leagues.
New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor finished second in the National League, and Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. was second in the A.L.
Judge began the season at +550, and after his slow start, he rose to +1800 in mid-May. Ohtani was +840 when the season began.
Cy Young Winners
Tarik Skubal only seems like he came out of nowhere this season to win the American League Cy Young. He’s been very good in the relative obscurity of the Detroit Tigers since 2022, but he’s been injured multiple times in his young career. Until this year, when he stayed healthy from start to finish.
He began the season at +1000 to win the A.L. Cy Young, and after winning the pitching Triple Crown (wins, ERA, strikeouts) he was paying -5000 this week when he won the award.
In the National League, the Cy Young went to Chris Sale, who also won the pitching Triple Crown. After spending the first 14 years of his career in the American League, Sale became an Atlanta Brave last off-season, and had the best season of his career. He was also named Comeback Player of the Year in 2024.
A Cy Young bet on Sale back in April paid as much as +3500.
Rookie of the Year Winners
When the season began, New York Yankees pitcher Luis Gil wasn’t even on the board. He made his MLB debut in 2021, but made just one appearance in the Majors in 2022, and none in 2023. We didn’t get odds on Gil to win American League Rookie of the Year until May, and at that point, he was +4500. By the time he won the award this week, he was the favorite at -150. Outfielder Colton Cowser of the Baltimore Orioles was +3000 when the season began, and he missed out on winning the award by just two votes.
In the National League, it was the Paul Skenes show as soon as he made his Pittsburgh Pirates debut. He was +3000 when the season began, but that’s only because we didn’t know when he’d be called up to the majors. Dodgers rookie Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the favorite back in March, paying +250.
When Skenes was called up on May 11, Yamamoto had fallen down the list, and San Diego Padres outfielder Jackson Merrill was the favorite at +500. But Skenes hit the ground running, going unbeaten in his first two months as a starter, and finishing the season at 11-3, an ERA of 1.96, and 170 strikeouts to just 30 walks.
Merrill might have won the award if he played in the American League. But in the National League, 23 of the 30 first place votes went to Skenes.
Manager of the Year Winners
Just two years ago, Stephen Vogt was closing out his playing career with a home run in his final at-bat as a member of the Oakland A’s. From that dramatic closing, to the even more dramatic beginning to his career on the bench, Vogt won American League Manager of the Year in his first season with the Cleveland Guardians. In 2023, he was the bullpen coach for the Seattle Mariners.
When the season began, he was +950 to win the award, and his Guardians were +450 to win the American League Central. Both tickets have now been cashed.
In the National League, the preseason favorite was Craig Counsell of the Chicago Cubs, who previously managed the Milwaukee Brewers, where he won more than 700 games. Five days after his contract expired in Milwaukee, the Cubs made him the highest-paid manager in MLB history with a five-year, $40 million deal.
The Brewers turned to Pat Murphy, who was the interim manager of the Padres in 2015, but mostly known for being the longtime head baseball coach at Arizona State. Now in his first full season as a Major League manager at the age of 65, he’s the National League Manager of the Year.
Counsell was the favorite at +550, and David Bell of the Cincinnati Reds was +600. A bet on Murphy back when the season began paid +950.
With over 25 years of experience as a distinguished sports writer for renowned platforms such as Fox Sports and ESPN, Kyle Garlett is a sports betting specialist who has been at the forefront of documenting the global surge in sports betting and online gaming. Based in Denver, Colorado, Kyle hosts an NFL betting YouTube show and podcast. Kyle also has two sports books published by HarperCollins.
Kyle graduated the Azusa Pacific University in 1996 with a B.A. Degree in Communication and Journalism.
