David Lennon's end-of-year MLB awards: Ronald Acuna Jr. edges Mookie Betts in season's tightest race

Typically, the curtain goes up on my own personal awards show during the last weekend of the regular season, right around the time the BBWAA ballots are due (actually before the first pitch of the first wild-card game).

But thanks to the twin epic fails in New York, the hazmat clean-up on both sides of the RFK Bridge stretched through Game 162, and we delayed our regularly scheduled programming until the autopsies could be done on the Yankees and Mets.

In the meantime, the wild-card round — yes, the whole dang thing — got wrapped up in short order with four two-game sweeps, otherwise known as MLB’s nightmare scenario.

October is baseball’s time to shine, the chance to showcase the best teams nearly every day of the month, with multiple games early on.

Instead, MLB had to go dark for more than 72 hours, waiting for the Division Series round to get underway.

Not ideal, especially coming off a spectacular six months in which the pitch clock — and the accompanying rule changes — created the best version of the sport we’ve seen in decades, cutting the time of a nine-inning game to 2:39, the shortest it’s been since 1985 (2:40).

That probably was a contributing factor in MLB passing 70 million in attendance, a 9.6% increase from the previous year. Still, there was zero carryover effect for the Rays in the wild-card round, with the Trop hosting a pair of intimate gatherings: 19,704 for Game 1 and 20,198 for Game 2, the two smallest postseason (non-pandemic) crowds in a century.

The Rangers’ sweep spared the Rays from any further embarrassment, as some of these award-winners did for their disappointing teams during the regular season. Here’s our list (for accountability purposes, we’ve listed our preseason and midseason picks, too).

AMERICAN LEAGUE

MVP:

Shohei Ohtani, Angels

Talk about your good news-bad news situations. Ohtani was the runaway choice for MVP, leading the AL in just about every offensive category, including homers (44), as well as the majors in slugging (.654) and OPS (1.066). On the pitching side, Ohtani went 10-5 with a 3.14 ERA and an 11.4 K/9 in 23 starts. He again proved himself to be the best all-around player on the planet and put up those ridiculous numbers even though his walk season was cut short because of Tommy John surgery and an oblique strain. The drama will only intensify this winter with the Ohtani derby, even though he’ll be just a one-way (DH) player for 2024.

Preseason pick: Ohtani

Midseason pick: Ohtani

CY YOUNG:

Gerrit Cole, Yankees

Cole (15-4) was the only Yankee worth watching this season and stayed that way, as reigning MVP Aaron Judge missed a large chunk of the schedule and the rest of the roster was mostly terrible. His 2.63 ERA was tops in the AL, second only to the Padres’ Blake Snell (2.25) overall, and he led the majors in WHIP (0.98) and opponents’ on-base percentage (.259). Also, Cole’s durability stands out among this generation. He made 33 starts and finished third in MLB in innings pitched with 209.

Preseason pick: Jacob deGrom, Rangers

Midseason pick:

Framber Valdez, Astros

MANAGER OF THE YEAR:

Brandon Hyde, Orioles

Does Hyde even need any statistical validation? If you’re the manager when the Orioles — yes, that Baltimore team — finishes first in the AL East, then here’s the trophy. This is only the O’s fourth trip to the playoffs in the past 26 seasons, and they did it this time by overtaking the super-smart Rays, the uber-talented Blue Jays and the big-spending Yankees, whose $294 million payroll was more than four times that of Baltimore (ranked 29th overall). The Orioles also had 48 comeback wins and the best record against winning teams, so Hyde gets them to play their best baseball when the stakes are highest.

Preseason pick: Bruce Bochy, Rangers

Midseason pick: Bochy

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR:

Gunnar Henderson,

Orioles

Henderson doesn’t belong in the best rookie conversation — he’s above that, more like in MVP territory since June 1, when he hit 23 of his 28 homers (in those 100 games), scored 72 of his 100 runs and had an .856 OPS. Overall, Henderson appeared in 150 games split between shortstop, third base and DH. But if we’re discussing him as far as rookie status goes, Henderson laps the field with a 4.6 WAR (FanGraphs) that’s nearly double that of his closest competition.

Preseason pick:

Henderson

Midseason pick: Josh Jung, Rangers

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MVP: Ronald Acuna Jr., Atlanta

The tightest race of the bunch, this one comes down to Ronald Acuna Jr. vs. Mookie Betts, but the Atlanta rightfielder takes the prize despite playing in baseball’s deepest and most dangerous lineup. The reason? Acuna’s been that good, leading the majors in big-impact offensive categories: runs (149), hits (217), stolen bases (73!), on-base percentage (.416) and total bases (383). Oh, yeah, and there’s the 41 homers, 106 RBIs and an NL-best 1.012 OPS. Acuna is the first and only player in that 40-70 club, and it’s not close. As for Betts, his 8.3 WAR (FanGraphs) is tied with Acuna — talk about a photo finish — but he’s just a tick behind Acuna in nearly every category except RBIs, in which he edges him by one. Factor in that Betts has played three different positions — shortstop, second and rightfield — and this could be a coin toss.

Preseason pick: Manny Machado, Padres

Midseason pick: Acuna

CY YOUNG:

Blake Snell, Padres

This was a tough race to sort out at the All-Star break. Afterward, not so much, and that’s where Snell earns the trophy. Or more accurately, from May 25 on, when Snell went 13-3 with a 1.20 ERA and .156 opponents’ batting average in his final 23 starts. Before that run began, Snell allowed six runs in four innings in his previous start against the Red Sox; he gave up 18 earned runs in 135 innings during the rest of the season. Overall, Snell finished with an MLB-best 2.25 ERA and an 11.70 K/9 rate, second to Atlanta’s Spencer Strider.

Preseason pick: Justin Verlander, Mets

Midseason pick:

Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

MANAGER OF THE YEAR:

Skip Schumaker,

Marlins

This usually goes to the plucky underdog manager, often a first-timer, or a wily veteran making a comeback with a new team. Returning a stacked lineup to the postseason doesn’t make the cut (sorry, Atlanta’s Brian Snitker) nor does nudging a wounded juggernaut back to 100 wins and a 10th NL West title in 11 years (ditto, Dave Roberts). Doesn’t mean they didn’t do great jobs. But kudos to the rookie manager who guides the previously adrift Marlins to the playoffs in the loaded NL East — only their second trip since winning the World Series in 2003 — and that’s Skip Schumaker (we know they got swept by the Phillies, but the ballots were in before then).

Preseason pick: Rob Thomson, Phillies

Midseason pick:

Schumaker

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Corbin Carroll,

Diamondbacks

Carroll, as you can see below, was the consensus pick to win this award from the moment he showed up in Arizona for spring training. He played as advertised from the jump, hitting .285 with an NL-best 10 triples, 25 homers, 54 stolen bases, 116 runs scored and an .868 OPS. As a side note to that stat line, Carroll is the only player in history — rookie or not — with a season of at least 50 stolen bases, 25 homers and 10 triples. Remember how good we said Gunnar Henderson was this season? Carroll beat his WAR (FanGraphs) by a sizable gap at 6.0 to 4.6.

Preseason pick: Carroll

Midseason pick: Carroll

By David Lennon

dave.lennon@newsday.comDPLennon

David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.