Indians: Cleveland gets shutout for all 3 major post-season awards

The Cleveland Indians have no Top 3 finishes in 2021.

The Indians had three strong candidates for the American League’s MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year awards. No one truly expected Jose Ramirez, Cal Quantrill, and Emmanuelle Clase to win the MVP, Cy Young, or Rookie of the Year award, but a top-three finish was hoped in the Cy Young debate, and Ramirez and Clase were expected by the fan base to at least hit No. 3 in both awards.

Yet, that was not the case as all three men, and every other Indians’ player, were shut out of the biggest awards of the season. Not only that, but Myles Straw lost his bid to become a Gold Glover after the awards came out and revealed that Michael A. Taylor for the Royals got the nod instead.

The only Indians player that still has a shot at an award is Ramirez, who is up against fellow third basemen Rafael Devers and Kyle Seager for the AL 3B Silver Slugger award. If Ramirez loses this award, it will mark one of the few times since 2013 that the Tribe didn’t win any post-season awards.

The Indians got screwed in the voting process

While Ramirez is expected by many to win the AL Silver Slugger award for third basemen, he shouldn’t be the only one on the verge of winning an award. The MLB has proven time and time again that players on losing clubs can qualify and win the MVP award.

All three AL MVP finalists weren’t in the postseason, with Toronto having both Marcus Siemien and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. as finalists, as well as Angels’ Shohei Ohtani. All three men were not in the post-season. So why was Ramirez excluded? By the sheer idea of the MVP award, having two players from the same team qualify for the award should prove that neither was the MVP. Ohtani makes sense, Mike Trout was hurt for most of the year and that franchise is lost. So why not Ramirez?

He had better figures than Simen in every category but extra-base hits and should’ve been in the final three.

Quantrill likewise had an impressive season, arguably more so than Gerrit Cole of the Yankees, as Quantrill appeared in more games (40) and had to transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation and in doing so, became a guy the team could consider a second-Ace behind Shane Bieber.

If not Cole, then at least Quantrill should’ve rated higher than Lance Lynn of the White Sox.

And frankly, the fact that Clase didn’t beat out Wander Franco and Luis Garcia as a Rookie of the Year finalist is an out-and-out joke. Clase was obviously the best pick for Rookie of the Year, but more than likely his positive PED test from the 2020 season probably nerfed his ability to get taken seriously.