Time running out to cast your GIBBY Awards vote
There is no game clock in baseball, but time is ticking away to have a say in honoring the very best of the 2014 Major League Baseball season. One last set of awards remains up for grabs for only a short time more, and this batch of honors hits on everything that shaped another unique year of baseball, including the postseason.
Tick-tock. Voting for the GIBBYs (Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards) ends tonight at 11:59 p.m. ET. Ballots can be cast right up to the deadline, so fans can still have their voices heard as the GIBBYs cover the gamut of categories, but only for a matter of hours and minutes.
Voting for GIBBYs offers an opportunity to salute Madison Bumgarner for his historically sensational October, but there's little doubt Clayton Kershaw will be vying for even more hardware beyond his record haul already for what he did on the mound in the regular season. He'll have to get past American League MVP Mike Trout and a lot of other superb performers to win the top GIBBY honor of them all: MLB MVP.
This set of awards is about MLB as a whole, so while Jose Abreu of the White Sox and Jacob deGrom of the Mets have been tabbed the top rookies of their respective leagues, only one rookie will come out on top in the GIBBYs. The list of top performers and performances goes on and on, and the greatest of those from across the game will be receiving their due when the winners of the categories up for the voters' consideration are presented at the GIBBY Awards special live on Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. ET on MLB Network.
Major League Baseball's A-listers will take home 2014 GIBBY trophies based on votes by media, front-office personnel, MLB alumni, fans at MLB.com and the Society for American Baseball Research.
This year's GIBBY Awards feature nominees in 25 categories. Individual honors will go to the MLB MVP, in addition to the year's best starting pitcher, hitter, closer, setup man, rookie, breakout hitter, breakout pitcher, bounceback player, defensive player, manager, executive and postseason performer.
GIBBY trophies also will be awarded for the year's top regular-season play, outfield throw, storyline, hitting performance, pitching performance, oddity, walk-off, Cut4 topic, regular-season moment and postseason storyline, postseason walk-off and postseason play. Fans can watch these and more by accessing MLB.com's Must C highlight reels.
In the past several seasons, fans have cast millions of votes across the GIBBY categories, none of which are restricted to individual league affiliation. That's how you know the GIBBYs consider the best of the best. All 30 clubs are represented among the award candidates, which is a testament to the competitive balance around the game.
Sure, the World Series competitors are well-represented, with the Giants and Royals both up for numerous honors. So are the teams that didn't last long at the October party: the Pirates -- with double nominees Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison -- and the A's, who have three members of their AL Wild Card squad up for awards.
But, remember, everyone's in the pool on this one -- teams that didn't reach the October party are well-represented, too. For one, Jose Altuve's stellar season with the Astros is up for three different awards -- MVP, Best Hitter and Breakout Hitter -- and the Major League leader in average at .341 and in hits at 225 certainly drove the point home time and time again that he's among the elite hitters in the game.
And for the man who has everything, there's still the possibility of a GIBBY. Among other players who didn't have the thrill of October baseball, the Marlins' main man, Giancarlo Stanton, has a chance to pick up some more hardware to go with his newly minted $325 million contract. He's up for MVP and Best Hitter after managing to lead the National League in homers with 37 despite missing the last three weeks after being struck in the face by a pitch.
It's not all about the stars, either -- so there's still time to give some credit to some of the game's unsung heroes. There is a Setup Man category that has remarkable rookie Dellin Betances of the Yankees and unhittable veteran Wade Davis of the Royals among the worthy candidates after getting those huge outs late in the game. And there are Bounceback candidates, players like Casey McGehee of the Marlins coming back from a year in Japan and others like the Giants' Tim Hudson, the Dodgers' Matt Kemp and the Mariners' Chris Young coming back from injury.
Managers. Executives. Oddities. Postseason Moments. They're all represented in the GIBBYs.
Kershaw. Trout. Bumgarner. Stanton. They're all up for more honors.
Hear that ticking? Time is running out to vote for this year's GIBBY Awards, and the final day is here to have a say about who and what made the biggest marks on the 2014 season.
Tick-tock. Vote.