Anyone who has read this site in the past year knows how much I love doing awards columns. And, as I sit here and watch the end of this epic one-game playoff between the Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins to decide the American League Central, it dawned on me that the end of the season yet again provides me another opportunity to partake in my favorite baseball activity: handing out hardware.

Three stud players made the picking fairly easy, and obvious, this year, which takes some of the fun out of it. Indeed, Zack Greinke, Joe Mauer and Albert Pujols left little room for debate in their respective categories. Without further adieu, though, here are my final--for those scoring at home, I did four different awards-related articles this year--awards for the 2009 MLB season.

American League

Most Valuable Player: Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

I was really hoping that I could give this award to Ben Zobrist of the Tampa Bay Rays. Zobrist was sensational for the Rays, hitting .297/.405/.543 with 27 home runs and 91 RBIs while providing fine defense at multiple positions. Perhaps in any other year, Zorilla would garner more serious consideration, but the race for A.L. MVP is a one-man show.

To anyone looking at this objectively, Twins catcher Joe Mauer is the only reasonable choice for this award. Mauer is a once-in-a-generation catcher who put together one of the finest seasons of all time, not just for a backstop. The stats are not official since game 163 is not finished yet, but he is a lock to win the sabermetric Triple Crown, leading the junior circuit in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Dude put up a line of .364/.442/.586 with a league-best park-adjusted OPS+ of 176. Arguing for someone else as M.V.P. is the equivalent in craziness as arguing that Craig Sager, he of the purple suits, has a good sense of style. Indeed, if he does not win, it is the writers who should be required to partake in mandatory drug testing, because one would have to be high to not pick Mauer as M.V.P.

Not only was Mauer the best hitter in the league, he also plays a premium defensive position. And he does so well above average. It is difficult to find a league-average hitter who can catch, let alone the guy who leads the league in OPS. I know he missed a month, but there is no way the Twins sniff the playoffs without him.

Cy Young: Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals: I wrote about Greinke's case two weeks ago. He, too, is a no-brainer. Greinke to no fault of his own pitched for a team with an embarr****ingly constructed roster, featuring the likes of Yuniesky Betancourt and Mike Jacobs, and still managed to go 16-8. Hopefully that will satisfy the writers who pretend that we are still living in the stone ages and feel that wins remain the most valuable way to evaluate pitcher effectiveness.

The truth lies in the numbers.

Greinke posted sick rates of 9.50 K/9, 2.00 BB/9, 0.43 HR/9, ranking second in the league with 242 punchouts. He paced the league in ERA (2.16), WHIP (1.07), was also second in complete games (six) and fifth in innings pitched (229.1). As well, the 25-year-old ace also led the majors with a 2.33 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) mark and posted an excellent 2.75 tRA.

Rookie of the Year: Brett Anderson, Oakland Athletics

This was supposed to be a race between David Price and super stud catcher Matt Wieters. Ironically, the Rays did have a rookie pitcher who is in the conversation here in Jeff Niemann. Niemann, one of the famous Rice trio of first-rounders, finally established himself at the major league level. The big right-hander went 13-6 with a 116 ERA+. His 6.23 strikeout rate left a bit to be desired, but he threw some important innings for Tampa Bay and should be a factor down there for the next few years.

Anderson gets the vote here because he simply blew away the rest of the field in Wins Above Replacement, producing 3.8 WAR. His 11-11 record and just above league-average 102 ERA+ will hurt him with the voters, but he produced solid rates of 7.70 K/9, 2.31 BB/9 and 1.03 HR/9. He was hurt by a 67.0 strand rate that will regress up, but his 3.69 FIP was good for eighth in the AL. The kid has a bright future.

National League

Most Valuable Player: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals

They should change the award name to the Pujols. The man just continues to mash. The Triple Crown talk ended up all for naught, but he still put up another Nintendo-like slash stats line of .327/.443/.658 with a league-best 188 OPS+. His defense was down at first base this year, with his UZR dropping to a five-year low of 1.8 and 1.0 UZR/150. But he was still again a plus with his glove and was worth 8.5 WAR when factoring in batting, fielding and positional factors. That translates to .1-M dollars. So, yeah, the Cards should definitely lock him up regardless of the price, because even with a record-setting deal, he is still a safe bet to be worth every penny.

National League Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

The Cardinals have an excellent chance of having a pitcher take home this award. Chris Carpenter came back from injury to put up another fine season. Carpenter went 17-4 while posting a league-best 2.24 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. New Hampshire's prized son won his second Comeback Player of the Year award and was a major reason why the Cardinals are headed back to the postseason.

And Adam Wainwright was also damn good. Wainwright led the league with 19 wins, paced the circuit with 233.0 innings pitched and struck out 212. Combined, the pair formed one of the best 1-2 duos in the N.L.

However, Carpenter (5.6) and Wainwright (5.7) actually rank fifth and sixth, respectively, in WAR for National League pitchers. Here are the top four:

Lincecum: 8.2
Javier Vazquez (guy gets no run support or love, by the way): 6.6
Dan Haren: 6.0
Ubaldo Jimenez (can't wait to watch this guy in the playoffs): 5.8

Joel Pineiro is actually not too far off the pace in WAR from Carpenter and Wainwright. Another pitcher to improve considerably after switching to the inferior Senior Circuit, Pineiro produced the best ground ball rate in baseball and walked only 1.14 batters per nine innings. True, he does not miss bats (4.42 K/9), but he was excellent on the way to a 4.8-win performance. The trio combined for 16.1 WAR, which is incredible.

While the trio was the league's best, Lincecum, as the numbers show, was the best individual pitcher. WAR is not the end-all be-all stat, by any means, but his lead is just so significant there. The Freak won 15 games on a team that featured one plus hitter in its offense, Pablo Sandoval, and scored about only seven runs a week. Plus, he paced the league with 261 Ks and four complete games and posted the second-lowest ERA (2.48). Only Greinke posted a lower FIP than his 2.34 and his 2.85 tRA was also excellent. He probably will not win his second straight Cy Young, since the voters seem to be centered in on St. Louis. But, before it is all said and done, his Trophy Case will not have a lot of empty shelf space.

Rookie of the Year: Chris Coghlan, Florida Marlins

In the spring, many people predicted this award to go to a member of the Marlins. Except the player was not supposed to be Chris Coghlan. Rather, stud outfield prospect Cameron Maybin was the guy whose name showed up in a million pre-season awards columns. But, with his incredible hitting down the stretch, Coghlan thrust himself in the conversation.

Coghlan's first-half line: .245/.342/.335

Coghlan's second-half line: .372/.423/.543

Yeah, the kid mashed after the All-Star break. He only hit nine home runs, not exactly stellar for a left fielder. As well, he takes a hit for his position and below average defense; he was worth -12.8 runs below average, according to UZR.

That said, Coughlan finished sixth in the league in hitting on the way to a line of .321/.390/.460. Not too shabby for a 24-year-old who was not expected to be a major factor for Florida this season.

Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen is the guy likely to have the best career out of the rookie cl****, and he had fine rookie performance in his own right. McCutchen hit .286/.365/.471, posted an 11.1 BB% and graded out 17.3 runs above average with his stick in 493 plate appearances. The 22-year-old was one of the few bright spots during a rough second half in Pittsburgh, and he offers hope that the streak of 17 consecutive losing seasons will come to an end soon.