MLB midseason awards: Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge win MVP, Paul Skenes for top rookie and more first-half picks

The All-Star break is in the books and we're ready to start the pennant race. It's great times in the baseball world. Before we get into the second half in earnest, let's hand out some fake hardware. These are not bets or predictions. We are making selections about a completed first half and not looking ahead at all. It is simply who should win if we handed out a midseason award.

Let's get to it.

Note: These are just my picks and I don't speak for anyone else. Direct your ire, if any, at me.

National League MVP: Shohei Ohtani , Dodgers

Maybe if Trea Turner and Mookie Betts didn't suffer injuries, we wouldn't be forced to deal with the possibility of a DH winning MVP for the first time ever. After all, the two-way Ohtani has been relegated to only hitting and running the bases this season while recovering from elbow surgery. He has, however, been so monstrously productive, offensively, that he's been the most valuable player in the league. He leads the league in WAR (which includes a defensive component that doesn't help Ohtani), slugging percentage, OPS, OPS+, total bases, runs and home runs. He's second in average, fourth in on-base percentage, third in RBI, second in hits and he's even third in stolen bases. He leads in slugging by 54 points!

It would be much more interesting to figure out who to rank second between players like Christian Yelich and Bryce Harper , but the easy winner is Ohtani.

American League MVP: Aaron Judge , Yankees

This isn't a blowout like the NL side because Gunnar Henderson has a case and we could also mention Bobby Witt Jr., but Judge stands at the top. He leads the league in WAR, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, OPS, home runs, RBI, total bases and more. His lead in OPS is 127 points. Yes, he's over 1.100 and no one else qualified is at 1.000.

The Yankees trail the Orioles by a game in the AL East, but sit in playoff position. I understand those pining for Henderson or even Witt, but Judge is the pick and it's his award to lose.

National League Cy Young: Chris Sale , Braves

This was an incredibly tough one and I'm still not even 100% sure I have the right guy.

Sale, Zack Wheeler , Reynaldo López and Ranger Suárez are all in the mix. Paul Skenes has only made 11 starts and trails significantly in innings, but he's been so ridiculously good that he's third in WAR. Hunter Greene is first in WAR, so he merits inclusion.

Sale is tied for the best ERA with Wheeler and has a better WHIP, more strikeouts and fewer walks with a similar workload. Wheeler is neck-and-neck with Sale right here and we could argue for a while, but there's no need since it's a fake award. Feel free to take a look.

Sale: 13-3, 2.70 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 140 K, 24 BB, 110 IP, 3.1 WAR

Wheeler: 10-4, 2.70 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 126 K, 35 BB, 116 2/3 IP, 2.9 WAR

American League Cy Young: Tarik Skubal , Tigers

This was a very tough call over Corbin Burnes , the All-Star Game starter, but I've got Skubal by the slightest of margins, much like in the NL race. Skubal leads in ERA and WAR and is second in WHIP. He's 10-3 on a bad team. He's third in strikeouts and doesn't have a low workload. He's second in ERA+ to Seth Lugo , but it's 174 to 173, so that's negligible. He beats Burnes in deeper measures like FIP and win probability added, too. Both have the look and feel of aces. It could go down to the wire -- unless the Tigers trade Skubal to an NL team .

National League Rookie of the Year: Paul Skenes, Pirates

Jackson Merrill of the Padres is having a great year and that means this isn't a blowout. Shota Imanaga of the Cubs is right there, too, but Skenes is 6-0 with a 1.90 ERA and is becoming a superstar for a Pirates team hanging around on the periphery of contention. If you wanted to look at WAR to compare the two pitchers with the position player, Skenes is at 3.2, Imanaga 2.0 and Merrill 1.9. Michael Busch of the Cubs is at 2.4.

I don't need WAR here, though. It's Skenes. He's the best rookie having the best year and he could be transcendent.

American League Rookie of the Year: Luis Gil , Yankees

With all due respect to players like Colton Cowser and Wilyer Abreu , we're zeroing in on the pitching side here, where two vastly different players in particular have a sizable lead. One is a starting pitcher in a megamarket and the other is a closer on a team playing out the string before being yanked away from home.

Mason Miller : 15 of 17 in save situations, 2.27 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 70 K, 39 2/3 IP, 1.6 WAR

Luis Gil: 10-5, 3.17 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 118 K, 49 BB, 102 1/3 IP, 2.5 WAR

Though Gil leads the majors in walks, having a workload nearly three times that of Miller means he's provided a decent chunk more value. If Miller's ERA was something like 0.27 instead of 2.27 I'd look a lot harder, but for now, the gulf in workload moves the needle for Gil in a close one.

National League Manager of the Year: Rob Thomson, Phillies

People love handing out this award to the manager of the worst playoff team or most surprising playoff team or whatever, but we don't treat other awards like that, so why do we have to do it with this one? The Phillies have been the best team in baseball pretty much throughout the season and they've dealt with injuries to key players like Trea Turner, Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber and JT Realmuto . If you desperately need the surprise angle, the Phillies were expected to finish second behind the Braves and instead have an 8 1/2-game lead. Pat Murphy of the Brewers also has a very strong case, but I like Thomson.

I am fully expecting a surprise playoff team's manager to beat Thomson for this, though.

American League Manager of the Year: Stephen Vogt , Guardians

The Guardians have the best record in the AL AND they are an unexpected contender AND they lost ace Shane Bieber very early in the season AND Vogt is replacing legendary manager Terry Francona. The bullpen is the best in baseball by a mile and that's the main in-game decision-making area for a manager, meaning we can give Vogt credit for pulling all the right strings during the game.

Brandon Hyde of the Orioles, Matt Quatraro of the Royals and Alex Cora of the Red Sox get looks -- and watch Joe Espada of the Astros if Houston keeps rising -- but right now this one is pretty easy.