KC's storybook season gets GIBBY attention

A memorable season is over for the Royals, but now fans can vote for some of the best plays of Kansas City's fantastic year.

Major League Baseball's A-listers will take home MLB.com's 2014 Greatness in Baseball Yearly (GIBBY) trophies -- the ultimate honors of the industry's awards season -- 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, 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 is 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, a fact many consider to be a testament to the competitive balance around the game.

Fans can vote as many times as they want through Nov. 21 at 10:59 p.m. CT by visiting mlb.com/gibbys, and winners will be announced live on the MLB Network and MLB.com on Dec. 6.

The list of nominees is littered with Royals, with the whole team up for Storyline, as they returned to the playoffs for the first time in 29 years.

The two men at the helm of that turnaround, Dayton Moore and Ned Yost, are nominated for top Executive and Manager, respectively.

Salvador Perez's 12th-inning single in the American League Wild Card Game is a nominee for best Postseason Walk-Off, which began Kansas City's run to the World Series. That game is also nominated for best Postseason Storyline.

Lorenzo Cain's diving catch in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against the Orioles and Jarrod Dyson's double play in the same game are up for Postseason Play, as are Alex Gordon's wall-crashing catch in Game 4 of that series and Mike Moustakas' grab in Game 3 of the AL Championship Series.

Right-handers Greg Holland and Wade Davis -- a big part of Kansas City's success this year -- are up for Closer and Setup Man, respectively, while lefty Danny Duffy is a nominee for Breakout Pitcher and Yordano Ventura is up for top Rookie.

Gordon, a three-time Gold Glove Award winner, is a nominee for best Defensive Player, while his Aug. 27 catch into the wall is up for Defensive Play.

Dyson's flip after the Royals got into first place on Aug. 11 is a nominee for the season's best Moment, while Terrance Gore scoring from second on  Cain's Sept. 15 infield hit is up for best Walk-Off.

The line drive off the bat of Tampa Bay's Kevin Kiermaier that ripped the webbing of Eric Hosmer's glove and went to Omar Infante is a nominee for Oddity, while the Royals honoring super fan SungWoo Lee is up for the year's best Cut4 Topic.

Several categories -- Play, Oddity, Walk-Off and Cut4 Topic -- opened balloting with at least one nominee per club. After a week of voting, the four lists were trimmed to 10 finalists per group by a panel.