Verlander, Bumgarner among Opening Day award winners

Now that the rescheduled Tigers-White Sox matchup has concluded, all 30 major league teams have concluded their Opening Day festivities. And what better time than now to analyze the data and see who will be the award winners this season? As everyone knows, Opening Day determines how good a player will be all season, so let's look at the numbers to figure out this year's award winners, which will definitely be how the BBWAA will vote in The fall. There is no debate. (Stats current as of 6pm ET, Tuesday, April 4th, 2017.)

NL MVP: Madison Bumgarner, San Francisco Giants

3 PA, 2 HR, 1 BB, 951 wRC+, 0.3 fWAR

Bumgarner is the greatest power hitter of this or any other generation, and that is just facts. He made Zack Greinke and Andrew Chafin look like a little leaguer, swatting two monster shots over the Chase Field fences. Bumgarner has a 5.000 OPS, which is a perfect score. There's no way that goes down. Old Hickory is better than Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds combined, period.

NL Cy Young: Carlos Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals

7 ¹⁄₃ IP, 10 K, 0 BB, 0 ER, 0.35 FIP, 0.6 fWAR

It was an emotional night for Martinez, as the young Dominican hurler honored deceased friends Yordano Ventura and Oscar Taveras by making the defending World Series champions Chicago Cubs look absolutely silly at Busch Stadium. Martinez was absolutely lights-out over 105 pitches, making the case that the Cy Young will make its first appearance in St. Louis since Chris Carpenter lifted the trophy 12 years ago.

NL Rookie of the Year: Jose Martinez, St. Louis Cardinals

1 PA, 1 2B, 718 wRC+, 0.1 fWAR

Sure, Martinez is a 28-year-old rookie who had just a short cup of coffee in the big leagues last year; sure, he only got in the game against the Cubs as a pinch hitter. But the numbers don’t lie. His double vaulted him to the top of the NL rookie leaderboards. Not even Dansby Swanson or Robert Gsellman could unseat him now. Cue the sentimental video package about the long journey to this moment.

AL MVP: Khris Davis, Oakland Athletics

4 PA, 2 HR, 844 wRC+, 0.3 fWAR

Many will view this as a controversial pick, based on Rougned Odor's dominating performance against Cleveland, but hey, we pick winners here. The Athletics left fielder demonstrated his monstrous power against the Angels on Monday night, taking Angels pitchers deep twice, and helping the A's win 4-2. When he's off to such a hot streak, there's nothing to stop him. (Please ignore comparisons to a certain ignominious legend of yore.)

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

6 ¹⁄₃ IP, 10 K, 2 BB, 2 ER, 0.86 FIP, 0.4 fWAR

The Verlandaissasnce continues. The new model for Deserved Run Average, which adjusts for a pitcher's control of the strike zone, thought that the Tigers ace should have won the AL Cy Young award last year over Rick Porcello, and there's nothing about his outing against the White Sox on Tuesday to contradict a "repeat" performance. Sure, it was just the White Sox, a weak-tea lineup if there ever was one this season, but Verlander had all of his pitches cooking. Fire up those tweets, Kate Upton!

AL Rookie of the Year: Andrew Benintendi, Boston Red Sox

4 PA, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 253 wRC+, 0.1 fWAR

The kid was already the frontrunner, and his three-run bomb off Gerrit Cole and the Pirates only proves that he's the best freshman in the game. Benintendi is perfect and he will stay perfect.

Small sample sizes are always right, just how baseball in April is always representative of the season as a whole. Frankly, I dont know why teams even bother playing after the first Monday in April. That’s what makes baseball such a beautiful game; it tells you all you need to know in one sunny, three-hour afternoon at the ballpark. So do the right thing, BBWAA! Give these guys the recognition they deserve. This article will still be live in late September to help jog your memory.