Chris Sale

There were no real surprises among the players' awards picks. Shohei Ohtani won NL Outstanding Player, Tarik Skubal claimed AL Outstanding Pitcher and Chris Sale took home both NL Outstanding Pitcher and NL Comeback Player. Colton Cowser and Jackson Merrill got the Outstanding Rookie awards. Tyler O'Neill, who played in 113 games in the second-best season of his career, was AL Comeback Player.

The Braves "payroll exceeded luxury-tax thresholds each of the past two seasons" and they will return Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Schwellencebach, Spencer Strider, AJ Smith-Shawver, and others, which means they might not feel the need to pay big money to bring back their top left-handed pitcher. The Braves certainly want Fried back, but the big question will be whether or not they can afford him.

The winner won't have to make a special trip to pick up his hardware, since both Judge and Ohtani will be in attendance, of course. We imagine Judge will be the pick here, but we'll see. Other so-called "finalists" for the awards are Judge, Witt and Jose Ramirez for AL Outstanding Player; Ohtani, Francisco Lindor and Marcell Ozuna for NL Outstanding Player; Emmanuel Clase, Logan Gilbert and Tarik Skubal for AL Outstanding Pitcher; Chris Sale, Paul Skenes and Zack Wheeler for NL Outstanding Pitcher; Wilyer Abreu, Colton Cowser and Austin Wells for AL Outstanding Rookie and Jackson Chourio, Jackson Merrill and Skenes for NL Outstanding Rookie.