For some teams, having a winner in a certain category will be nothing new. For example, Aaron Judge could give the Yankees their 21st AL MVP Award, while Paul Goldschmidt or Nolan Arenado could give the Cardinals their 18th NL MVP Award.
But among the 30 franchises, there are also seven who have never won a particular award, with two of those missing two categories apiece. Not all of those gaps can be filled this week, but there are a couple of exceptions.
Here is a breakdown of the team-award combos we have yet to see, beginning with the ones whose droughts can end this week.
TEAMS WITH 2022 FINALISTS
Marlins – Cy Young
2022 finalist: Sandy Alcantara
Highest finish: 2nd (Dontrelle Willis, 2005; Kevin Brown, 1996)
Alcantara looked like the frontrunner for much of the season and appears to be in prime position to make Marlins history and leave the Rangers and Rockies as the only clubs without a Cy Young Award. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was prolific, as his 228 2/3 innings were 23 2/3 more than any other MLB pitcher, while his 14 complete games led that group by eight. He was plenty effective, too, with a 2.28 ERA.
While the Marlins have employed some strong pitchers in the past, none was quite able to nab a Cy Young. Brown finished behind John Smoltz in 1996, despite a 1.89 ERA. A 23-year-old Willis went 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA in 2005 but lost a close race to Chris Carpenter (132-112 in vote points). Then there was the late José Fernández, who placed third as a 20-year-old rookie in 2013 and seventh in 2016, bookending two seasons lost partly to rehab from Tommy John surgery. His tragic death in September ‘16 cut short a career that easily could have included some hardware.
Mets – Manager of the Year
2022 finalist: Buck Showalter
Highest finish: 2nd (Willie Randolph, 2006; Davey Johnson, 1984 and ‘86)
Showalter himself is no stranger to this award, of course. He has won it three previous times in the AL: in 1994 with the Yankees, 2004 with the Rangers and 2014 with the Orioles. If he wins in the NL this year for guiding the Mets to 101 victories in his first year at the helm in Queens, that would give him four Manager of the Year Awards for an unprecedented four different teams.
Despite this award existing since 1983, the Mets are one of two teams not to win one, along with the Brewers. Johnson was a consistent contender but never got over the hump with the Mets, finishing second, fourth, second, fourth and third from 1984-88 despite a sustained run of success. (He later won with the 1997 Orioles and 2012 Nationals). Randolph was the 2006 runner-up to the Marlins’ Joe Girardi, while Terry Collins only finished third after taking the Mets to the World Series in 2015.
Brewers – Manager of the Year
Highest finish: 2nd (Craig Counsell, 2018, ‘19 and ‘21; Ron Roenicke, 2011; Phil Garner, 1992; Tom Trebelhorn, 1987)
That’s right — the Brewers have finished second in the AL or NL Manager of the Year Award race a whopping six times without ever winning. Three of those runner-up finishes have come in the past five seasons under Counsell, who came in behind the Braves’ Brian Snitker in 2018, the Cardinals’ Mike Shildt in ‘19 (despite nabbing more first-place votes) and the Giants’ Gabe Kapler in ‘21. The Brewers also might have experienced some bad timing, in that the award debuted in 1983, one year after Harvey Kuenn took over from Buck Rodgers and went 72-43 the rest of the way to lead the club to the AL East crown by one game.
D-backs – MVP
Highest finish: 2nd (Paul Goldschmidt, 2013 and ‘15)
Goldschmidt is an NL MVP finalist in 2022, and this might finally be his year — albeit with the Cardinals. Goldy was a nearly annual contender in Arizona but was beaten out by the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen in 2013 and the Nationals’ Bryce Harper in ‘15. He also placed third in ‘17.
Of course, the D-backs’ have gotten fewer chances at an MVP Award than most, having not arrived in the league until 1998. Meanwhile, pitchers have produced many of their top seasons, resulting in five Cy Young Awards — four by Randy Johnson and one by Brandon Webb.
D-backs – Rookie of the Year
Highest finish: 2nd (Wade Miley, 2012)
After Arizona’s inaugural 1998 season, first baseman Travis Lee finished third in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, although well behind winner Kerry Wood and runner-up Todd Helton. In the years since, the club has not come much closer. Its only other top-three finishers have been Webb (third in 2003) and Miley, who went 16-11 with a 3.33 ERA and lost an extremely close vote to Harper (112-105).
Mets – MVP
Highest finish: 2nd (Darryl Strawberry, 1988; Keith Hernandez, 1984; Tom Seaver, 1969)
This is probably the most shocking entry on this list. The Mets played their 61st season in 2022, exist in the country’s largest media market, have enjoyed plenty of successful seasons and employed a number of high-profile players. And yet, no Mets player has won MVP.
Seaver came the closest after going 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA in 1969, getting 11 first-place votes but finishing 22 points behind fellow Hall of Famer Willie McCovey (265-243). Strawberry also finished a close second in 1988, 36 points behind Kirk Gibson (272-236). And if you’re wondering about some other notable Mets, Gary Carter (1986) and Mike Piazza (2000) never placed higher than third with the club, while David Wright’s best finish was fourth (2007).
Rangers – Cy Young
Highest finish: 2nd (Yu Darvish, 2013; Fergie Jenkins, 1974)
Like the Mets, the Rangers have existed for more than 60 years — including their time as the Washington Senators — without winning one of the two biggest annual awards. They almost avoided that way back in their third season in Texas, when the Hall of Famer Jenkins went 25-12 with a 2.82 ERA, got 10 first-place votes and lost a tight race to Oakland’s Catfish Hunter (90-75). There haven’t been many close calls since then. While Darvish was runner-up to Max Scherzer in 2013, he didn’t get any first-place votes in a clear-cut race.
Rays – MVP
Highest finish: 6th (Evan Longoria, 2010 and ‘13)
The Rays are the only club to not have a top-three finisher in one of these awards. Part of that, of course, is that they are one of the two most recent expansion teams. Another is that they have been more pitching oriented, with two Rays winning Cy Young Awards (David Price in 2012, Blake Snell in ‘18). Even when Tampa Bay went to the World Series in 2020, its highest MVP finisher was Brandon Lowe, in eighth place.
Longoria is the best position player in franchise history but still couldn’t crack the top five, even when he posted an 8.2-WAR season in 2010.
Rockies – Cy Young
Highest finish: 3rd (Ubaldo Jiménez, 2010)
When you consider that Rockies pitchers have to contend with Coors Field, it’s perhaps not a surprise that their 30-year history has not yielded a Cy Young Award winner. Jiménez tamed his home park about as well as anyone, posting a 3.16 ERA over 15 starts there in 2010 and going 19-8 with a 2.88 ERA overall. Still, the Phillies’ Roy Halladay ran away with the award that year, snaring all 32 first-place votes. Left-hander Kyle Freeland also made a spirited Cy Young run in 2018 but finished fourth and well behind winner Jacob deGrom.