It’s time for another edition of our first MLB Monday miniseries as the 2023 season came to an end awhile ago, and the award winners were announced in November. We also have the same issue as often presented to us in the past (and will be again as we move forward with the postseason awards): no cheaters allowed. So, under those conditions, we are off with our take on the major MLB awards for the 2023 regular season!

2023 AL MVP: Shohei Ohtani, DH, Los Angeles (original); Marcus Semien, 2B, Texas (revised)

The top position players in the league were Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien (7.4 WAR), Rangers shortstop Corey Seager (6.9), and Baltimore Orioles rookie infielder Gunnar Henderson (6.2). Texas snuck into the postseason despite losing 24 of its final 42 games, while the Orioles posted a league-high 101 victories. This automatically puts Semien on top of the pile, in two different value-added ways.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (6.0) won the vote, in part because of his pitching prowess (4.0 WAR), but the 73-win Angels finished 17 games out of first place and 16 games out of a playoff spot. His amazing performance just didn’t matter—he is a singularly unique talent, but his stats have little value in the under-.500 vacuum of the standings basement, really. It’s a shame, but it’s life.

We also have our suspicions about Seager’s sudden turnaround from 2022 under the influence of a known PED-enabling manager, so we won’t consider him for the award, either. That means Semien is going to win his third AL MVP nod from us, adding to his 2019 and 2021 hardware. For the record, his 2.3 dWAR was the highest of his impressive career at this point, and his 5.7 oWAR was the third highest of his career, as well.

2023 NL MVP: Ronald Acuña Jr., RF, Atlanta (original); Mookie Betts, UTL, Los Angeles (revised)

Six of the top 10 position players in MLB came from the senior circuit, and they include three Atlanta Braves, two Los Angeles Dodgers, and one New York Met. With the Mets finishing under .500, we have to consider the teammates from Atlanta and L.A.: utility man Mookie Betts (8.3), right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. (8.2), first baseman Matt Olson (7.4), 1B Freddie Freeman (6.5), and third baseman Austin Riley (5.9).

Vote winner Acuña gets eliminated due to his bad defense (-0.7 dWAR) as does Freeman (-1.7 dWAR). With Olson coming in as a even-zero defender, we can eliminate him, too, since Betts played right field, second base, and shortstop to the tune of a 0.8 dWAR finish! Riley is too far behind Betts at this point in overall WAR to matter here. With both the Braves and Dodgers winning big, we finally give this nod to Betts.

2023 AL Cy Young: Gerrit Cole, SP, New York (original); Sonny Gray, SP, Minnesota (revised)

The top three pitchers in the league were New York Yankees starting pitcher Gerrit Cole (7.4), Minnesota Twins starter Sonny Gray (5.3), and Orioles SP Kyle Bradish (4.9). With Bradish falling short of our standard requirement (5.0), it’s down to Cole and Gray—and the Yankees barely finished over .500, missing out on the postseason by 7 games, while the Twins won the AL Central Division by 9 games. Dilemmas …

Cole was clearly the “better” pitcher, but it happened in that proverbial vacuum. And the Twins might have won their weak division even without Gray. But the Twins won 5 more games than the Yankees did, and that’s Gray’s WAR value, really. So we give this to the age-33 veteran journeyman. Besides, even though this was Cole’s first official vote win, we have given him two Cy nods in the past, anyway (2019, 2021). Fair!

2023 NL Cy Young: Blake Snell, SP, San Diego (original, confirmed)

It was a rough year for pitchers, as only four of them even topped 5.0 WAR this season. In the NL, it comes down to San Diego Padres SP Blake Snell (6.0) and San Francisco Giants SP Logan Webb (5.5). Since the Giants came in under .500 for the season at 79-83, Snell wins this from us based on the Padres’ 82 wins. He also won the vote, so we confirm this award (surprise). Snell previously won the 2018 AL vote, although …

2023 AL ROTY: Gunnar Henderson, IF, Baltimore (original, confirmed)

One huge reason the Orioles won 101 games with one of the lowest payrolls in the sport was infielder Henderson, an MVP candidate in his own right with 6.2 WAR. The next-best rookie on a winning team posted just 3.3 WAR, and Henderson was compiled 2.0 dWAR, too. We confirm his vote win, easily, although we note he played in 34 games during 2022—just sliding in under the threshold for rookie status. Oh well!

2023 NL ROTY: Corbin Carroll, OF, Arizona (original, confirmed)

The vote winner, Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Corbin Carroll (5.4), easily outdistanced the next-best rookie on a winning team, as the Diamondbacks snuck into the playoffs with 84 wins—making it by 1 victory over the Chicago Cubs. Even though Carroll was a negative defender (-0.7 dWAR), that doesn’t matter as much in the ROTY analysis. Cincinnati Reds IF Matt McLain (3.7) would be next on the list.

With 82 victories, the Reds just missed the postseason, so we can see how Carroll’s bat was the difference maker for the Arizona organization. He was a positive defender, but the situation mandates we confirm Carroll’s vote win. Context always matters, even when we sometimes may be seemingly inconsistent.

Check in every Monday for our MLB awards historical analysis on The Daily McPlay!