No Dodger is going to win any of the five annual awards from the Baseball Writers Association of America this year, but let’s think about the next few seasons.
This is all due respect to Shohei Ohtani, who will finish in the top three in National League MVP voting this year, but that really means second or third because Pete Crow-Armstrong is going to win that award handily. For our purposes, I’m removing the four-time MVP Ohtani from this discussion as even in a down year with almost nothing over
the final six weeks of the season he’s still a top-3 MVP player.
But which Dodger is the most likely to win a BBWAA award? Here are the five such honors:
- Rookie of the Year
- Manager of the Year
- Reliever of the Year (this is a new award this season)
- Cy Young Award
- Most Valuable Player
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has been the Dodgers ace the last two seasons, and finished third in NL CY Young Award voting in 2025. This year he’ll finish outside of the top three and we’ll find out what votes he received, if any, later on Wednesday.
Dave Roberts won Manager of the Year in 2016, his first season on the job, and finished second in 2017. This is the hardest BBWAA award to gauge, as a manager’s job is hard to define given how much of the duties are behind the scenes. Usually, this award goes to managers whose teams exceeded expectations, or perhaps a team having a turnaround in a manager’s first season on the job.
Roberts won in his first year, finished second in 2017 (his second year), and since then has finished higher than fourth only once, and that took 111 wins in 2022 to finish second. Given the Dodgers payroll and expectations, Roberts doesn’t usually get much support for the award. He finished fifth this year.
Josue De Paula could win NL Rookie of the Year in 2027, but that would require the Dodgers committing playing time to him in the outfield (barring an injury to Ohtani opening a spot at designated hitter). We’ll find out some level of that investment this offseason, as the team currently has three starting outfielders on the 40-man roster.
If Edwin Díaz is healthier in 2027 and puts up a season like the bulk of his 2020-25 with the Mets (strikeout rates 38 percent or higher, low 2s to sub-2 ERAs) with a bunch of saves, he could be in the mix for Reliever of the Year. Same goes for Tanner Scott if he racks up saves and pitches like 2023-24.
The last Dodgers player to win …
- MVP was Ohtani in 2025
- Rookie of the Year was Cody Bellinger in 2017
- Manager of the Year was Roberts in 2016
- Cy Young Award was Clayton Kershaw in 2014
Today’s question is excluding Shohei Ohtani, who will be the next Dodger to win a BBWAA award?
