Albert Pujols batted .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs for the Cardinals. AP Tom Verducci's Mailbag Submit a comment or question for Tom. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

A thought occurred to me after I put together my award ballots: where are all the old guys? I named a total of 25 players on my MVP and Cy Young ballots (one of them made both). Of those 25 players, 20 of them are 30-and-younger. Only two are older than 32 (Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez). Yes, folks, feel free to draw your own conclusions in this testing era, but baseball is a young man's game again. Remember that when your club goes free-agent shopping for an impact player this winter.

The envelopes, please . . .

NL MVP

1. Albert Pujols
2. Lance Berkman
3. Ryan Howard
4. Ryan Braun
5. Manny Ramirez
6. Brad Lidge
7. CC Sabathia
8. David Wright
9. Johan Santana
10. Hanley Ramirez

Yes, putting up big numbers for a playoff team is the preferred MVP criteria -- and Ryan Howard did lead the majors in home runs and RBIs for a division champion -- but no one should regard such a profile as the mandatory formula. The bottom line is that Pujols simply was too good to ignore, while doing so for a team that played most of its season in a meaningful context. (The Cardinals were 3 1/2 games out of the wild card with 18 to play.) In his worst month, Pujols hit .302. He slugged .653 while striking out just 54 times. I think he'll win the award fairly easily.

Howard? He's a game-changing hitter, but he just didn't do it with Pujols' consistency. Pitchers could exploit Howard in more ways than they could Pujols. Howard hit .224 against left-handers. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Howard struck out in one-third of his at-bats. In those same spots, Pujols was just as likely to hit a home run (five) as strike out, while posting a ridiculous 1.382 OPS. I'll admit this is an odd ballot, because it includes three pitchers and a guy who played only 53 games for his team. But in each of those cases the impact by the player on his team and the pennant race demanded recognition on the ballot somewhere.

AL MVP

1. Dustin Pedroia
2. Joe Mauer
3. Carlos Quentin
4. Justin Morneau
5. Kevin Youkilis
6. Grady Sizemore
7. Josh Hamilton
8. Carlos Pena
9. Frankie Rodriguez
10. Alex Rodriguez

Pedroia is the 2008 version of the 2007 Jimmy Rollins: high-end production and every-day reliability while playing superbly in the middle of the diamond. Among players on contending teams, not just playoff teams, Pedroia had the most hits, the most runs, the most doubles, the most total bases and the most times on base. His daily work ethic -- is there a defensive player who lays out for more balls than Pedroia? -- has become a source of leadership. Mauer and Morneau have similar candidacies; both were beasts with runners on, with Mauer's contribution all the more impressive because of the importance of his position. But Mauer had 80 fewer total bases than Pedroia and Morneau hit just .250 in September with two home runs.

NL Cy Young

1. Tim Lincecum
2. Johan Santana
3. Brandon Webb

Lincecum was exactly what the award is designed to honor: the best pitcher in the league, not the pitcher with the most wins. He was the toughest pitcher to hit (.221, as compared to .232 for Santana and .242 for Webb) while giving up just 11 home runs, only four of which came in the 402 plate appearances against him with runners on. And oh, those strikeouts. Lincecum fanned 10.5 batters per nine innings. Only five other pitchers ever struck out batters at that rate while throwing at least 220 innings: Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, Pedro Martinez, Nolan Ryan and Sam McDowell. Fast company.

AL Cy Young

1. Cliff Lee
2. Roy Halladay
3. Ervin Santana

Lee's season will go down as one of the most efficient ever, especially in the era of the five-man rotation. He went 22-3 in 31 starts. Only four other 20-game winners lost so few games: Roger Clemens (20-3 in 2001), David Cone (20-3 in 1988), Ron Guidry (25-3 in 1978) and Preacher Roe (22-3 in 1951).

NL Rookie of the Year

1. Geovanny Soto
2. Joey Votto
3. Jair Jurrjens

This wasn't as obvious a call as it might seem. Votto put up better numbers than Soto in home runs, batting average, OBP, slugging and total bases. But the differences were ever so slight, not enough to overcome the impact Soto made for being the frontline catcher on the best team in the league.

AL Rookie of the Year

1. Evan Longoria
2. Alexei Ramirez
3. Armando Galarraga

Longoria had nearly the kind of impact on the Rays that Ryan Braun did on the Brewers and Troy Tulowitzki did on the Rockies last season: a rookie steps in and is immediately seen as a rock of the team. Galarraga quietly put together a very solid season for an awful Detroit team.

NL Manager of the Year

1. Lou Piniella
2. Joe Torre
3. Tony La Russa

Pretty good company right there. Those are three of the 14 winningest managers in history, representing 6,313 career wins combined. Piniella, No. 14 on the list, is No. 1 here for his usual superb job of using his entire roster.

AL Manager of the Year

1. Joe Maddon
2. Ron Gardenhire
3. Mike Scioscia

Gardenhire did a great job for a team that lost Johan Santana and Torii Hunter. Scioscia is annually one of the best managers in the game because he has established a strong team culture and aggressive style of play. But the Rays are an all-time amazing story. Maddon ought to be the unanimous winner.