Continuing my 2 part series on major league baseball midseason awards and turning my attention to the National League. You can read part 1 here.

The National League has what I believe to be some candidates that are a lock, and I will not have any disagreement (or not much). You can’t look at some of the players I am handing awards and argue against them.

I enjoy writing these type of articles because it is all personal opinion and it’s fun to see where other people’s opinions differ from mine. The fun of opinions is that everyone has one.

Most Valuable Player: You can’t look at the first half of the MLB season and not mention the Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani. He has already won several MVP awards while with the Angels in the American League, and he has been one of if not the most valuable player in the National League leading up to the All-Star break.

His .316 batting average is second behind Christian Yellich, his OPS in 1.036 and he leads the league in homeruns with 29. He also has 117 hits in just 94 games played.

Ohtani’s wins above replacement (WAR) is 5.4. That is a high number if you don’t know a lot about WAR. No one else has a WAR above 5.

Cy Young:  I went into this post dead set on Paul Skenes being my Cy Young winner, but as I did my research I came to a different conclusion. Atlanta Braves pitcher Chris Sale is having a phenomenal season.

With a record of 13-3, an ERA of 2.70 (Skenes ERA is lower at 1.90) and 140 strike outs in 110 innings pitched, Sale has to be the cy young winner for the first half.

I have no doubt that I could have also given it to Skenes, but only 1 other pitcher in the NL has more than 10 wins and only 3 others in all of baseball do. Sale has been impressive to say the least.

Rookie of the Year: Don’t think for a minute that I am leaving Skenes out of this list. He is a shoe in for rookie of the first half. With is afore mentioned 1.90 ERA, his 6-0 record and his stunning 12.1 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched (SO/9), he is a no doubter in my mind.

I can’t remember the last time a rookie pitcher had this type of success less than 1 year removed from college ball. Heck, I can’t even remember a rookie pitcher having this much success in his first season.

Skenes is a once in a lifetime talent and must see television if you get the chance to watch him. He already was on his way to a no-hitter but was pulled after 7 innings. Skenes is going to be fun to watch over the next 10+ seasons.

Manager of the Year: To me this came down to 2 men: the Brewers Pat Murphy and the Phillies Rob Thomson. While the Phillies are running away from the rest of baseball with a record of 62-34, we expected the Phillies to be good, but maybe not this good.

No one say the Brewers coming. With a record of 55-42 the Brew Crew lead the National League Central by 4.5 games at the break. Murphy has done an amazing job with a team that is overachieving in my opinion. He deserves the accolade in my opinion.

The Strikeout King: This one is close between Nolan Gorman (129) and Elly De La Cruz (127). Both are striking out a lot, almost 38 percent of the time for Gorman and 31 percent of the time for De La Cruz. Gorman could reach 200 strikeouts if he can get enough at bats before the end of the season.

The No Thanks Award: No surprise here really that Brice Harper leads the way with intentional base on balls (8), with Freddy Freeman coming in a close second (7). Both players can make an immediate difference at the plate if the pitcher makes a mistake anywhere in the zone.

Harper has been a good batter since his rookie season with the Nationals, and Freeman has always been a tough out. Surprising to me was that Ohtani only has 5 IBB.

Surprise Player of the Year: Reynaldo López of the Atlanta Braves below 3 only twice in his 8+ year career, and he hasn’t started with any consistency since 2021, and even then it was only 9 starts.

Converted back to a starter by the Braves, López has started 17 games and has posted an ERA of 1.88. He has surprised many people and in a good way. If he continues he should also be in the discussion for the Cy Young award.

Once again feel free to let me know where I missed the mark in the comments.