MLB Award Finalists 2017: Chris Sale, Andrew Benintendi In Mix For Red Sox

The 2017 season was a year of repeats for the Boston Red Sox: another American League East title, another exit in the AL Division Series and two more players pegged as finalists for the 2017 Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards.

Major League Baseball revealed its three finalists for each award Monday night, and two Red Sox are in the hunt for hardware: Chris Sale (AL Cy Young Award) and Andrew Benintendi (AL Rookie of the Year Award).

Both players face stiff competition, notably from Cleveland Indians ace Corey Kluber and New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge. If Sale takes home Cy Young honors, though, Boston would be the first AL team with back-to-back Cy Young winners since the Indians in 2007 and 2008.

Here’s the complete list of finalists.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
American League
Aaron Judge, OF, New York Yankees
Jose Altuve, 2B, Houston Astros
Jose Ramirez, 3B, Cleveland Indians

National League
Paul Goldschmidt, 1B, Arizona Diamondbacks
Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami Marlins
Joey Votto, 1B, Cincinnati Reds

CY YOUNG AWARD
American League
Chris Sale, Boston Red Sox
Corey Kluber, Cleveland Indians
Luis Severino, New York Yankees

National League
Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers
Max Scherzer, Washington Nationals
Steven Strasburg, Nationals

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
American League
Terry Francona, Indians
A.J. Hinch, Houston Astros
Paul Molitor, Minnesota Twins

National League
Bud Black, Colorado Rockies
Torey Lovullo, Diamondbacks
Dave Roberts, Dodgers

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
American League
Andrew Benintendi, OF, Red Sox
Aaron Judge, OF, Yankees
Trey Mancini, 1B/OF, Baltimore Orioles

National League
Josh Bell, 1B/OF, Pittsburgh Pirates
Cody Bellinger, 1B, Dodgers
Paul DeJong, SS, St. Louis Cardinals

The winners of these awards will be announced over a span of four days from Nov. 13 to Nov. 16, airing on MLB Network at 6 p.m. ET each night.

Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images