As we gear up for Opening Day, excitement is in the air. Also in the air this time of year? Predictions for the season ahead.

We asked 88 MLB.com staff members to predict each league’s winners of the four Baseball Writers’ Association of America awards in 2024: Most Valuable Player, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year.

Here are the results:

Most Valuable Player

American League: Juan Soto, Yankees
Soto narrowly edged Mariners superstar Julio Rodríguez in our balloting. Soto has long been viewed as one of baseball’s elite hitters, combining powerful slugging with an incredible eye at the plate. While he’s led the Majors in walks each of the last three seasons, with Aaron Judge now behind him in the lineup, the damage Soto does with his bat could elevate to another level.

Opposing pitchers will be loath to issue free passes to Soto with the most prolific home run hitter in the game on deck. He’ll surely take his walks. But in 2024, he could put up numbers we’ve never seen from him. That’s saying a lot.

Others receiving votes: Rodríguez, Adley Rutschman, Judge, Corey Seager, Yordan Alvarez, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bobby Witt Jr., Kyle Tucker, Gunnar Henderson, Mike Trout

National League: Mookie Betts, Dodgers
Much like Soto could take his production to another level after already achieving elite status, Betts could do the same thanks to two former MVPs behind him in the Dodgers’ lineup -- Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman. Betts, already an AL MVP Award winner with the Red Sox in 2018, nearly parlayed a massive second half of last season into a second MVP honor.

The seven-time All-Star and six-time Gold Glove Award winner posted a .987 OPS with a career-high 39 home runs in 2023, ultimately finishing runner-up in NL MVP voting to Ronald Acuña Jr., who was a close second in our polling for this year. With his tremendous defensive versatility, Betts will be the Dodgers' starting shortstop this season after primarily playing right field for his entire MLB career to this point.

Others receiving votes: Acuña, Ohtani, Freeman, Bryce Harper, Corbin Carroll, Fernando Tatis Jr., Pete Alonso, Seiya Suzuki

Cy Young

AL: Corbin Burnes, Orioles
Burnes was the runaway choice here, with our voters seeing the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner taking home the AL honor in his first season with the Orioles. Since becoming a full-time starter with Milwaukee in ’21, Burnes has struck out at least 200 batters in each season and has posted a 2.94 ERA over that span. Now the long-awaited proven ace of the Orioles, the 29-year-old right-hander is poised for a big debut season with his new club.

Others receiving votes: Luis Castillo, Pablo López, Kevin Gausman, Tarik Skubal, George Kirby, Framber Valdez, Cole Ragans, Logan Gilbert, Zach Eflin

NL: Spencer Strider, Braves
Another runaway winner among our voters, it seems only a matter of time before Strider wins a Cy Young Award. The young right-hander finished fourth in NL Cy Young Award voting last year after leading the Majors with 281 strikeouts over 186 2/3 innings.

With a release extension of more than seven feet from the pitching rubber to go along with a fastball that can reach triple digits in velocity, Strider is nearly unhittable when he’s on. While his ERA last season was elevated at 3.86, his FIP was more than a full run below that, a league-best 2.85. Our voters see everything coming together for the 25-year-old in 2024.

Others receiving votes: Logan Webb, Zack Wheeler, Zac Gallen, Justin Steele, Dylan Cease, Tyler Glasnow, Kodai Senga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Rookie of the Year

AL: Jackson Holliday, Orioles
Even though he didn’t make Baltimore’s Opening Day roster, Holliday had a huge spring, posting a .954 OPS with three doubles, two triples and two homers in Grapefruit League play. The 20-year-old phenom is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 1 prospect in the game, and he is widely expected to make his big league debut this year. Our voters see that debut campaign being a very successful one, so much so that he beat out Rangers star prospect Wyatt Langford (No. 6 overall), who finished a close second in the balloting. Langford’s teammate, fifth-ranked prospect Evan Carter, finished just a vote behind him.

Others receiving votes: Langford, Carter, Colton Cowser, Junior Caminero, Parker Meadows

NL: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers
Yamamoto may have had a rocky start to his Major League career, giving up five runs over one inning during the Seoul Series, but with his stuff and his track record in Japan, our voters view the right-hander as the man to beat in this year’s NL Rookie of the Year race.

The right-hander won three consecutive Sawamura Awards (the Nippon Professional Baseball equivalent of the Cy Young Award) and three straight Pacific League MVP Awards, tying a record shared by Ichiro Suzuki (1994-96) and Hisashi Yamada (1976-78). Yamamoto is just getting started in MLB, but if things go the way our preseason voting turned out, he’ll be adding some hardware to that already-packed trophy shelf.

Others receiving votes: Jackson Chourio, Paul Skenes, Jung Hoo Lee, Jackson Merrill, Kyle Harrison, Shota Imanaga, Michael Busch, James Wood, Jared Jones, Masyn Winn

Manager of the Year

AL: A.J. Hinch, Tigers
The Tigers are a team on the rise. With a talented young core made up of ascending stars like Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene, Kerry Carpenter and No. 22 overall prospect Colt Keith, Detroit could make a big leap in 2024. But if they do, young talent alone won’t be the reason for it. As Hinch enters his fourth year at the helm and his 11th managerial campaign overall, he’s got the pieces in place and a wealth of experience to guide the Tigers in a wide-open AL Central division. Hinch narrowly topped the Orioles’ Brandon Hyde, the Royals’ Matt Quatraro and the Mariners’ Scott Servais.

Others receiving votes: Hyde, Quatraro, Servais, Rocco Baldelli, Bruce Bochy, Kevin Cash, Joe Espada, Stephen Vogt, John Schneider, Ron Washington

NL: Craig Counsell, Cubs
Counsell is entering his first season managing the Cubs after nine with the Brewers. Known for his innovative usage of a pitching staff, he inherits a team that finished one game shy of a surprise NL Wild Card berth in 2023. With Cody Bellinger back in the fold and the addition of Japanese left-hander Shota Imanaga, Counsell will go to work in his quest to get the Cubs to the postseason for the first time since the pandemic-shortened ’20 campaign.

Others receiving votes: David Bell, Bob Melvin, Dave Roberts, Mike Shildt, Oliver Marmol, Carlos Mendoza, Pat Murphy, Rob Thomson, Brian Snitker, Derek Shelton, Torey Lovullo