Urías, Roberts are BBWAA Award finalists

November 8th, 2022

Finalists for each major award were announced on MLB Network on Monday, and the Dodgers were well-represented once again.

After winning the National League ERA title in 2022 (2.16), it was no surprise that Dodgers ace was announced as one of the three finalists for the National League Cy Young Award, which is given to the pitcher with the best overall season.

All-time winners: Cy Young Award | Manager of the Year

By being named a finalist, Urías secured at least a top-three finish in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voting for the first time in his career. Urías finished seventh in the voting in 2021, despite being the lone 20-game winner in the Majors.

Urías has had to deal with large expectations since he signed with the Dodgers. He has gone from phenom to top prospect, but this season, Urías took his game to a different level, establishing himself as the Dodgers’ ace.

In his last 14 regular-season starts, Urías went 10-1 with a 1.27 ERA, striking out 80 over 85 1/3 innings of work. Urías allowed two or fewer runs in all 13 of his second-half starts en route to his first ERA title.

"You try to get better every year,” Urías said in Spanish in October. “I felt last year was an incredible year, winning 20 games [in 2021] was something really important in my career. Winning the ERA title isn’t easy, you have to beat a lot of great pitchers. I feel very fortunate to have accomplished that.”

Urías will have to beat some other great pitchers to win his first NL Cy Young Award. The other two finalists are Marlins right-hander Sandy Alcantara and Braves left-hander Max Fried.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was also recognized as a finalist for NL Manager of the Year. Roberts was at the helm of the Dodgers as they set a new franchise record with 111 wins this year. The Dodgers were just the fifth team in Major League history to win at least 111 games, but fell 10 wins short of their ultimate goal of winning the World Series.

Roberts, who has the best winning percentage as a manager in Major League history, took home the award in 2016 and will be in the top three of voting for the third time in his seven seasons as the Dodgers’ manager. Roberts signed a three-year extension with the Dodgers before the ‘22 season.

In order for Roberts to become the first Dodgers manager to win the award twice since Tommy Lasorda, he’ll have to beat out Mets manager Buck Showalter and Braves skipper Brian Snitker.

Manager of the Year Award winners will be announced on Tuesday, Nov. 15, while Cy Young Award winners will be announced Wednesday, Nov. 16, both at 3 p.m. PT on MLB Network.