Dylan Cease, Louis Varland Named Finalists for BBWAA Awards

On Monday, the Baseball Writers Association of America announced the top three vote-getters for each of its five awards: MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and the brand-new Relief Pitcher of the Year.  

While no Blue Jays made the podium for MVP, RotY, or MotY, Dylan Cease and Louis Varland were named "finalists" for the Cy Young and the inaugural Relief Pitcher of the Year Award, respectively. The winners of both awards will be announced on Wednesday, November 11. 

Cease is likely to finish as the Cy Young runner-up, behind the Yankees' Cam Schlittler and ahead of the Guardians' Parker Messick. Varland has a better chance to win his award, unless it turns out the BBWAA voters value saves significantly more than anything else. Fellow finalists Bryan Baker of the Rays and Cade Smith of the Guardians tied for the MLB lead in saves, but Varland outperformed both of them in almost every other category.