First-half MLB Awards: Former Cardinals OF takes AL Rookie of the Year

In our opinion, deGrom should have won this award in 2018, but he has the narrative on his side in this case.

Spoiler alert, we'll get into how historically-dominant that he's been on the mound in a minute, but in what may be the final season of National League pitchers batting, deGrom is hitting .364 with six RBIs. Most of the time when we talk about pitchers that are "good hitters," it's done in relative terms. But deGrom has been worth 0.6 fWAR as an offensive player, which actually does enhance his MVP case because he's actually a good hitter.

The standards for a pitcher to win an MVP is extremely high, which means that the outcome of this race is far from decided. Unfortunately, Ronald Acuña Jr. is out for the season, which will prevent him from pushing deGrom. However, it's certainly possible that Fernando Tatis Jr. and Trea Turner, among others, could win this award if they have a big second half and deGrom is mortal after the All-Star Break.

What's there to say? Ohtani is a cheat code, one that may be in route to winning his first of a slew of MVP awards.

The 27-year-old has had a first half that would make Babe Ruth jealous. As a hitter, Ohtani is slashing .279/.364/.656 with 33 home runs, 70 RBIs and a 1.062 OPS. Ohtani has also been the best starting pitcher for the Angels, posting a 3.49 ERA and 3.57 FIP in 13 starts, with seven of the 26 earned runs he's given up coming in a late-June start against the New York Yankees that really has been an outlier.

If the season ended today, Ohtani may win the American League MVP unanimously.

That said, the season doesn't end today, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is probably having the best offensive season of any player in baseball. Guerrero lost over 40 pounds in the offseason, and suddenly looks like his Hall of Fame father at the plate. Still only 22, Guerrero is hitting .332/.430/.658 with 28 home runs, 73 RBIs, 52 walks and a 1.089 OPS. It would hardly be shocking if he ends up winning American League MVP.

A few injury scares have prevented deGrom from being a workhorse in the first half, but the bottom line is that the two-time National League Cy Young Award winner just turned in one of the most dominant halves in MLB history.

Across 92 innings, deGrom has a 1.08 ERA, 1.23 FIP and 4.8 fWAR, all the top marks among starting pitchers in 2021. Whether you have a direct rooting interest in the Mets or not, deGrom's starts have become must-watch TV.

Zack Wheeler - deGrom's former teammate - has been one of baseball's best pitchers in his second year with the Philadelphia Phillies. Wheeler leads baseball with 119 2/3 innings pitched in 2021, and has a 2.26 ERA, 2.25 FIP and 4.5 fWAR to show for it. If deGrom slips up at all, Wheeler, Kevin Gausman and Brandon Woodruff could all give him a run for his money with this award.

Also of note is that it will be interesting to see how some of these arms fare in the second half of the 2021 season, a year after pitching in the 60-game season caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, Wheeler has thrown nearly 120 innings already this year, a season after he racked up just 71 total innings.

The top two or three candidates in the National League would all be the favorites for the American League Cy Young Award, where there is hardly a clear-cut favorite.

For now, we're going to give the nod to Carlos Rodón, who has a 2.31 ERA, 2.35 FIP and 3.6 fWAR in 89 2/3 innings this season. His Chicago White Sox teammate Lance Lynn and Boston Red Sox righty Nathan Eovaldi are very much in the running as well.

It will be interesting to see how New York Yankees righty Gerrit Cole is treated in awards voting, especially given his non-denial when asked if he's ever used Spider Tack. Statistically, Cole is very much the forefront of the discussion, as he has a 2.68 ERA, 2.90 FIP and 3.2 fWAR across 114 frames.

Even though Sixto Sánchez is going to miss the entirety of the 2021 season, the Marlins still have a ton of young pitching to be excited about.

With Max Meyer and Edward Cabrera still looming in the minor league system, Rogers has been one of the better left-handed pitchers in baseball in 2021. In 101 1/3 innings, the 23-year-old has a 2.31 ERA, 2.49 FIP and 3.1 fWAR.

Rogers' teammate Jazz Chisholm, Cincinnati Reds second basemen Jonathan India and Chicago Cubs corner infielder Patrick Wisdom all drew consideration for this award as well. Cardinals OF Dylan Carlson is in the top-10 among qualified rookies for batting average, tied for third in home runs, third in RBI and 13th in OPS.

Something of a late bloomer, Garcia may win the American League Rookie of the Year Award in his age-28 campaign.

Garcia is hitting .270 with 22 home runs, 63 RBIs and a 2.2 fWAR in 80 games this season, putting him at the front of the line in a race where their isn't an obvious pick. He made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2018, a year after he was signed as a free agent. After the 2019 season he was designated for assignment and picked up by the Rangers.

We'll give an honorable mention to last year's World Series hero Randy Arozarena - still technically a rookie - and Detroit Tigers Rule-5 Draft selection Akil Baddoo, but Garcia is our pick right now.

We'll see if they're able to sustain it, but in a division with two of the five best rosters in the sport, Gabe Kapler has the much less talented San Francisco Giants at the top of the National League West with a 57-32 record.

57 is the most wins in the sport currently, meaning even if the Los Angeles Dodgers and/or San Diego Padres leapfrog them in the National League West, the Giants are still a pretty good bet to make the playoffs as one of the two Wild Card representatives in the senior circuit.

Certainly, the Giants have benefitted from renaissance seasons out of Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria, along with Kevin Gausman finally realizing his potential as a front-line starter. Even with that factored in, the Giants have no business being atop this division, and Kapler deserves a ton of credit for the job he's done so far in his second managerial stop.

It can't be as simple as Cora returning after being suspended for the entirety of the 2020 season, and ultimately dismissed by the team.

But the fact is, the Red Sox went 24-36 in the pandemic-shortened season, finishing dead last in the American League East. A year later, they're tied for the best record in the American League at 55-36. Cora deserves a world of credit for that.

Houston Astros skipper Dusty Baker and Oakland Athletics manager Bob Melvin are also worthy candidates here.