Now that we're fast approaching the All Star Break, I feel like some players have emerged as new favorites in these races.
My picks
NL MVP- Albert Pujols (Sheff has lost ground)
NL Cy Young- Jason Schmidt (probably just about as valuable as Pujols right now, and has over the last couple months emerged as the best pitcher in baseball)
AL MVP- Carlos Delgado (putting up historic numbers)
AL Cy Young- right now it's a tie in my mind between Loaiza and Halladay. Halladay will end up winning it, IMO, but Loaiza's numbers are still very strong.
Halladay a runaway in the AL? Please, the guy has ONE more win than Loaiza, but his era is 1.5 higher. Loaiza beats Halladay in every stat but wins, and strikeouts (though Loaiza has two fewer starts and his ratio is better). If Loaiza was on the Blue Jays and recieved the 7/8 runs per game in support that Halladay did, he'd probably have 15 wins already. Loaiza IS the runaway in the AL.
I'll go with Schmidt and Hallday too (in anticipation of Loaiza having a slightly less strong second half than halladay-- if I'm wrong, I'm wrong! But I gotta figure if Loaiza was this good he would have been better in his career this far, he's already halfway through it!) Pujols is a runaway, but i fotta figure there there will be a race in the AL MVP. Vernon Wells will be mentioned as will Garrett Anderson, and Delgado will be hard pressed to continue this pace throughout the season.
NLMVP: Pujols
NLCy Young: a crapshoot IMO, but I'm gonna go with the darkhouse John Smoltz- if he breaks the record which I assume he will, he has a pretty good shot at it. The saves record is about 60 right? Or am I mistaken?