This year’s BBWAA awards race has a distinctly Tampa Bay feel to it.
The Rays landed three finalists for the major honors handed out by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, with the announcement coming Monday night on MLB Network. Junior Caminero is in the mix for the American League MVP Award, Kevin Cash has a shot at another AL Manager of the Year trophy, and Bryan Baker is a finalist for the first AL Reliever of the Year Award ever presented by the BBWAA.
None of the three is a lock, but each has a real argument.
Cash, who already won AL Manager of the Year in 2020 and ’21, is up against White Sox manager Will Venable and Red Sox skipper Chad Tracy. The winner will be announced on MLB Network on Nov. 10, with coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET.
Baker’s case is built on both volume and reliability. He tied for the Major League lead in saves with 41 and is one of three finalists for AL Reliever of the Year, joined by Guardians closer Cade Smith and Blue Jays reliever Louis Varland.
That winner will be revealed on MLB Network on Nov. 11, the same day as the Cy Young Award presentation, with coverage beginning at 7 p.m. ET.
Caminero’s spot among the MVP finalists may be the most eye-catching of the three. He is up against Astros slugger Yordan Alvarez and Royals star Bobby Witt Jr., with the winner set to be unveiled on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. ET on MLB Network.
Just getting this far is already a milestone for Caminero. He has secured the highest AL MVP finish in Rays history, topping the previous franchise bests set by Evan Longoria, who finished sixth in 2010 and ’13, and Yandy Díaz, who also finished sixth in 2023. No Rays player had ever cracked the top five before, and Caminero is guaranteed to finish at least third.
Alvarez enters as the favorite after leading the Majors in batting average (.316), on-base percentage (.432), slugging percentage (.601) and walks (109). He also piled up 42 homers, 106 RBIs and led the AL in total bases with 341.
Still, Caminero has a strong case of his own. He played every one of the Rays’ 162 regular-season games at third base, and that defensive workload separates him from Alvarez, who was primarily a DH. Caminero also starred for the AL’s best team, while the Astros reached the playoffs as the 81-win AL West champions.
His final line was plenty loud, too: .276/.360/.524 with a 144 OPS+, 42 homers and 101 RBIs.
The All-Star third baseman also took a big step forward defensively as the season progressed, and his biggest offensive leap came in plate discipline. He nearly doubled his walk total from 2025 and raised his OBP from .311 to .360 without giving up any of his power.
Cash’s candidacy carries a similar kind of weight. The competition is stiff, thanks to the unexpected rise of Venable’s White Sox and the in-season surge Tracy sparked with the Red Sox. But that doesn’t erase what Cash did with a team that was widely expected to finish last in the AL East.
Instead, the Rays spent most of the season at the top of the AL, won their always-tough division and finished 98-64 to claim the league’s top postseason seed. Cash once again helped shape that success by building a comfortable environment for players and leaning into tactics that used to be considered impractical by some of the game’s sharpest analytical minds.
He also continued to get the most out of a roster operating with the sixth-lowest payroll in the Majors.
One of the biggest examples of that approach was Baker’s role. Cash brought back the traditional closer setup, and Baker turned into a first-time All-Star while emerging as arguably the game’s best ninth-inning arm.
Baker and Smith shared the Major League lead with 41 saves, and Baker’s 1.44 ERA was second-best in the Majors among pitchers with at least 60 innings, trailing only Varland’s 1.27. His steadiness stood out most of all: he didn’t blow a save after May 13, closed out 30 straight save chances to finish the regular season, and then added five more in the postseason. Over nine playoff appearances, he worked 10 scoreless innings.
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