Major League Baseball’s 2016 season officially came to an end on Friday night with Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout taking home top honors as the best major leaguer at the Esurance MLB Awards show.
That was one of 19 awards given out as voted on by former MLB players, front-office executives, media and fans to determine the best of the best in the sport last season.
Here is a full list of winners in each category, per MLB.com:
While the Chicago Cubs’ thrilling World Series victory was the dominant topic of the 2016 season, no discussion of this year would be complete without a tribute to Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.
It was only fitting that after 67 years of calling Dodgers games, Scully would be given the opportunity to showcase his brilliance in dramatic fashion as the team won the National League West on Charlie Culberson’s walk-off home run in the 10th inning against the Colorado Rockies.
There are many great announcers in MLB, but there was no other call in 2016 that deserved to be honored more than Scully‘s final call at Dodger Stadium.
Sticking with the Dodgers, star shortstop Corey Seager capped off a huge week by winning the award for best rookie in 2016. He took home NL Rookie of the Year honors from the Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday and was an NL MVP finalist on Thursday.
Per ESPN Stats & Info, Seager‘s Rookie of the Year win increased the number of Dodgers’ already-massive lead in that category over the rest of the NL:
Just as Seager was a repeat winner in the rookie category, Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer comes away from this week with multiple trophies after being named the best pitcher in MLB and earning best performance for his 20-strikeout game against the Detroit Tigers in May.
The celebration for Scherzer‘s Esurance win wasn’t televised, though it would be hard to top what happened after he was named NL Cy Young winner on Wednesday, per MLB GIFs:
The Cubs and Cleveland Indians were well-represented in the awards, as was expected for the two best teams in the sport in 2016.
The American League champion Indians had two of their most memorable moments rewarded. Tyler Naquin’s walk-off inside-the-park homer against the Toronto Blue Jays was arguably their biggest moment of the regular season, capping off a thrilling come-from-behind win against one of the AL’s top teams.
In what would have been the defining moment of the MLB season if things played out differently in Game 7 of the World Series, Rajai Davis’ game-tying home run against Cubs closer Aroldis Chapman was awarded best postseason moment.
Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor took home the honor for best defensive player after receiving his first career Gold Glove award earlier this month.
Fortunately for Lindor, he wasn’t punished by the voters when his brother caused a stir during the young shortstop’s 23rd birthday with a cake mishap, which he posted to Twitter:
Other Indians rewarded for their efforts included Terry Francona as best manager for navigating the team through pitching injuries to their first division title since 2007 and ace reliever Andrew Miller for best postseason player.
Per MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian, Miller set three postseason records for relief pitchers:
The Cubs, who beat the Indians in the World Series to end their 108-year title drought, took home four trophies.
Theo Epstein was the easiest choice of the night in any category as best executive. The babyface president of the Cubs took over the team in 2011, rebuilt the entire foundation by hitting big on draft picks like Kris Bryant and Kyle Schwarber, stealing Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell, Jake Arrieta and Kyle Hendricks in trades and investing wisely in free agency for Jon Lester.
With Francona and Epstein being honored on this night, it’s only fitting their last link to the 2004 Boston Red Sox also took home a trophy, as David Ortiz was honored as the best hitter.
Ortiz, who will enjoy retirement before Cooperstown calls him in five years, had an incredible final season with a .315/.401/.620 slash line and 38 home runs.
Per Christopher Kamka of Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Ortiz shattered the MLB record for most extra-base hits in a season by a player in aged 40 or older:
The Red Sox were unable to send Ortiz into the sunset with his fourth World Series title, but it’s hard to argue with how his career came to a close.
In the final award given out, Trout just continues to rack up trophies for being awesome. That’s not a scientific term, but there’s no better way to describe what the Angels star has done through each of his first five full MLB seasons.
Trout took home his second AL MVP award on Thursday, beating out Red Sox outfielder Mookie Betts and Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve. The 25-year-old has never finished lower than second in MVP voting and led the league in runs (123), walks (116) and on-base percentage (.441) in 2016.
The comparisons between Trout and Mickey Mantle have been made dating back to 2012, with the YES Network providing the latest evidence these two might actually be the same player:
It’s difficult to say Trout will get better next season, because how do you improve upon two MVP awards at the age of 25? Yet there truly seems to be no limit on what the Angels star is capable of doing on a baseball field.
The Angels need to do a better job of building a team around Trout to maximize his skills while they still can. For now, though, admiring what the young star is doing will carry you through the long winter until baseball returns in 2017.
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