Arrieta, Bryant may bring home awards this week
The Chicago Cubs aren't playing baseball right now, but this could be a big week for them.
Two Cubs players and manager Joe Maddon are among the finalists for three major individual awards, which will be announced this week.
The only award a member of the Cubs is not a finalist for is National League Most Valuable Player, which will be announced Thursday.
Washington's Bryce Harper is the odds-on front-runner for MVP, with Arizona's Paul Goldschmidt and Cincinnati's Joey Votto the other two finalists.
Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo and ace pitcher Jake Arrieta no doubt received plenty of MVP votes from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, but neither is a finalist.
The awards announcements will be made live on MLB Network at 5 p.m. Chicago time each evening from Monday-Thursday.
Here is how things shake out for Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year and the Cy Young Award in the NL:
Rookie of the Year (Monday)
When the San Francisco Giants visited Wrigley Field for a four-game series Aug. 6-9, it looked like the Rookie of the Year would come down to a battle between Cubs third baseman Kris Bryant and Giants infielder Matt Duffy.
The Cubs swept the Giants and never looked back in the wild-card race as they caught and passed the Giants in that series.
As for the individual battle between Bryant and Duffy, Bryant finished with a batting line of .275/.369/.488 with 26 home runs and 99 RBI. Duffy ended at .295/.334/.428 with 12 homers and 77 RBI.
The third finalist is Pirates shortstop Jung Ho Kang, whose season ended in Pittsburgh on Sept. 17 when the Cubs' Chris Coghlan slid hard into Kang, who needed knee surgery for a torn knee ligament and a fractured tibia. Kang finished at .287/.355/.461 with 15 homers and 58 RBI.
Bryant looks to be the odds-on favorite for Rookie of the Year.
Manager of the Year (Tuesday):
When the Cubs do well they're always a big story and always a sentimental story. Because of that, Maddon is sure to garner a lot of votes.
The Cubs had the third-best record in baseball (97-65) as Maddon led them to the second wild-card spot in his first year in Chicago.
The St. Louis Cardinals won 100 games under Mike Matheny, who oversaw a team that suffered injuries to several key players, including ace pitcher Adam Wainwright in April.
Terry Collins led the New York Mets to a sweep of the Cubs in the championship series before the Mets lost to the Kansas City Royals in the World Series.
The Mets won the NL East with a team that didn't get much offense in the first half of the season.
The postseason won't matter because ballots had to be submitted before the playoffs began, but Collins figures to get a boost from the New York and East Coast media.
The vote for Manager of the Year likely will be close.
Cy Young Award (Wednesday):
The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke looked to be 1 and 1A through the all-star break.
And then along came Arrieta.
The Cubs' ace sported a record of 22-6 with a 1.77 ERA and a WHIP of 0.86. Arrieta finished the season with 20 straight quality starts. Included in that run was a no-hitter at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 30.
Greinke went 19-3 with a 1.66 ERA and a WHIP of 0.84, which led the NL.
Kershaw, last year's Cy Young winner, had a record of 16-7 with an ERA of 2.13 and a WHIP of 0.88.
This vote, too, looks to be too close to call.