We are gathered here today to hand out the 2016 RotoBaller Fantasy Baseball Awards. I’m your host, Nick Mariano, and I'll be your Sherpa for the festivities. In case you want to see where things stood at the All-Star break before reading on, check out our Midseason Awards column.

I know this is weird, we've had day-in, day-out baseball for so long now. Just when you thought the fantasy baseball could never end, it's over. We're all still routinely clicking over to our team page only to realize that there's nothing to do. Sure, some of us have keeper considerations to deal with, but this is mainly a time for reflection. We had one heck of a year. Through the highs and lows, I just want to say thank you to all of the readers. You da real MVP.

On with the show:

AMERICAN LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

AL MVP: Mookie Betts

Boston’s next-generation superstar was the winner of a three-horse race that came down to the wire. Jose Altuve was the leader through the first few hours of votes pouring in, then Mike Trout shot up to take the lead before a spree of ballots at the end gave Betts the trophy. With a ridiculous 122 runs, 31 homers, 113 RBIs, 26 steals (on 30 attempts) and a .318/.363/.534 triple slash through 730 plate appearances, the 23-year-old earned a switch from the lead-off spot to the cleanup role in mid-August. It both terrifies and excites me that this is a guy who is set to turn only 24 in a matter of days.

AL ROY: Gary Sanchez

Call it recency bias, call it New York bias, call it whatever you want, but Sanchez edged out Michael Fulmer for the honors here. In only 53 games and 229 plate appearances, the seemingly-perennial top prospect hit an incredible 20 homers with 42 RBIs alongside a healthy .299 batting average. We don’t talk about defense, but the dude has a cannon to boot. While his laughably high 40% HR/FB rate will regress (Ryan Braun’s 28.8% mark led the Majors out of qualified batters), the power is real. Did we mention that his juicy bat gets to deliver these stats for you out of the catcher slot? Good deal.

AL Cy Young: Justin Verlander

The 33-year-old stud came back with a vengeance after only going 5-8 in 133 1/3 innings last season, and while he didn’t earn the AL Comeback Player award, I think he’ll settle for this one. His 16-9 record joined up with an AL-leading 254 strikeouts (trailing only Max Scherzer’s 284 in the Majors) to generate plenty of value, but he didn’t stop there. His 3.04 ERA was second-best in the AL and his 1.00 WHIP led the AL, as he delivered incredible stats for all who had the fortune of rostering him. In 17 starts from July 7 on, all he did was post a 2.02 ERA with a solid 139-to-28 K:BB ratio. Yeah, he’s good.

AL Best Reliever: Zach Britton

As if. Baltimore’s closer was the unanimous winner here with a hilarious 0.54 ERA and 0.84 WHIP through 67 innings of work. His 47 saves, sterling ratios and 9.94 K/9 allowed him to be absolute force for those who drafted him around the RP8-10 price point that he was going at during draft season. Bravo. He's no flash in the pan either,

AL Comeback Player: Rick Porcello

Porcello’s 2015: 9-15, 149 Ks, 4.92 ERA, 1.36 WHIP in 172 innings (28 starts).

Porcello’s 2016: 22-4, 189 Ks, 3.15 ERA, 1.01 WHIP in 223 innings (33 starts).

Okay yeah, that’s a pretty good comeback. The 27-year-old righty coasted all season long thanks to cutting down on his line-drive rate (21.8% to 18.9%) and a minuscule 3.6% walk rate that ranked second-best out of all qualified starters. While we don’t like putting a ton of stock in win-loss records, 22-4 is great, and points to his fantasy value pitching for an offense as potent as Boston’s. Hope y’all enjoyed that fantastic late-round or waiver-wire profit.

AL Bust of the Year: Sonny Gray

Or perhaps all Porcello did was help balance out your selection of Mr. Gray. He was 50 shades of terrible this season before eventually getting hurt to end the season. His 5.69 ERA and 1.50 WHIP were awful, and left owners who banked on last season’s 2.73 ERA and 1.08 WHIP out in the cold. His command took enough steps back to win an Olympic backpedaling event, as his hard-hit rate shot up to 33.6% from 25.1% alongside a HR/9 that spiked to 1.38 from 0.74. This didn’t allow him to enjoy his usual low BABIP and high strand rate, and just made for an all-around mess.

NATIONAL LEAGUE AWARD WINNERS

NL MVP: Kris Bryant

Oh my gosh, Bryant only stole eight bases this season after swiping 13 last season?! BUST! Oh, he noticeably improved in nearly every other metric? Let’s list his stats with his rookie season marks in parentheses for comparison. Ready?

39 homers (26), 121 runs (87), 102 RBIs (99), .292/.385/.554 triple slash (.275/.369/.488), 22% strikeout rate (30.6%), 13% swinging-strike rate (16.5%), 23.7% line-drive rate (20.5%), 18.8% HR/FB (15.8%), 40.3% hard-hit rate (37.5%). That’s pretty damn decent for a sophomore season. Your NL MVP, ladies and gents. Only getting better.

NL ROY: Corey Seager

Not impressed by a 24-year-old stunting on the MLB? How about a 22-year-old little brother? Mr. Corey Seager, younger brother of Mariners’ third baseman Kyle Seager, nearly swept the honors here (Trea Turner took a few votes, and would’ve been very interesting if he had more service time) thanks to a 105/26/72/3/.308 5x5 roto line. Lots of folks were skeptical of his high performance during last season’s brief cup of coffee in September, but boy did he back it up. Enjoy the hardware Corey, and welcome to this incredible club of young shortstops. *Trevor Story totally would’ve won if he didn’t get hurt*

NL Cy Young: Max Scherzer

Scherzer secured his second-ever 20-win season in 2016 as he posted his second-straight season with a sub-3 ERA and sub-1 WHIP. Oh, and those career-high, Major League-leading 284 strikeouts that we alluded to before. His season was highlighted by a downright goofy 20-strikeout outing against his former team, the Tigers, on May 11. The 32-year-old has absolutely feasted over the last four seasons, and it’s difficult to see him stopping in 2017.

NL Best Reliever: Kenley Jansen

Jansen matched the AL winner Britton’s 47 saves, but was much more of a K-demon with 104 strikeouts in only 68 2/3 innings. That’s good for a 13.63 K/9, which gives him a K/9 north of 13.00 in each of his seven Major League seasons. Those who prefer the raw percentage rather than the per-nine metric, yeah his 41.4 K% was also beautiful and the second-best mark of his career (44% in 2011). His 1.83 ERA and 0.67 WHIP were also career-best marks. He was a certified Titan of the ninth inning, and earned this title.

NL Comeback Player: Jean Segura

So many of us thought we had seen the best season Segura would ever have in 2013. Wrong. A change of scenery to another hitter-friendly park in Arizona revitalized the 26-year-old to tune of 102 runs, 20 homers, 64 RBIs, 33 steals and a .319/.368/.499 triple slash. He hit eight homers over his last 19 games to help fantasy owners out during the stretch run as well, as he just refused to quit producing from atop Arizona’s quietly powerful offense. He’ll likely be drafted about 100 spots higher in 2017 fantasy drafts, and rightfully so.

NL Bust of the Year: Dee Gordon

It’s tough to pin “bust” on anyone else when a guy with an average ADP of 20.2 ends up getting suspended for 80 games and then seeing his batting average slip 65 points from last season. While many may not have been hanging their hat on him replicating 2015’s .333 average to a t, they pretty much needed him to at that draft price. While he still stole 30 bases in 345 plate appearances (58 steals in 653 PAs last season), it nowhere near enough to dig him out of this hole. It’ll be very interesting to see where his stock settles in 2017 drafts.

MISCELLANEOUS AWARD WINNERS

Best Second-Half (Hitter): Joey Votto

Okay, most of us figured that Votto would bounceback to some degree in the second half after an insanely terrible first half of the season that saw him hit .252. This is a career .313 hitter who has more than enough games under his belt to be considered reliable, and yet there he was at the All-Star break causing fantasy owners to question their sanity. If you held onto him or bought low as the Midsummer Classic went on, then boy did you get a treat. He hit .408 in the second half. I know the “3” is next to the “4” on a keyboard, but that’s no typo. He hit .408 with 15 homers, 53 runs and 55 RBIs in only 314 PAs, with a ridiculous .490 OBP on top of it all. Yadier Molina’s .365 second-half average was the next-best mark, so just sit back and appreciate what Votto did here.

Best Second-Half (Pitcher): Jon Lester

Lester’s last start of the season, on October 1, gave Lester his first loss of the second half. It took that long. Okay, right right, move beyond win-loss already. His 1.76 second-half ERA trailed only teammate Kyle Hendricks (though his 2.77 FIP was superior to Hendricks’ 2.96 mark) and his .189 batting average against mark was best in the NL (one point above Jake Arrieta, those pesky Cubs).

Worst Second-Half (Hitter): Jake Lamb

Lamb captured the hearts of many with 20 homers and a .291 average in the first half of the season, but boy did that party end swiftly. We're talking someone ripping the aux cord out of the phone on a road trip-type swiftly. His second-half average was a paltry .197 with only nine homers floating his value. His line-drive rate plummeted by 7% and his hard-hit rate dropped by 5.7%, which led to a HR/FB rate that was cut by more than half. He downright stunk. He showed such promise, and hopefully he can bring it back for a full season in 2017, but his performance is well-deserving of this award.

Worst Second-Half (Pitcher): James Shields

All one has to do is sort all qualified starting pitchers by ERA to see that James Shields’ 6.39 was the worst of them all. Aw man, he must have just gotten unlucky right? No. Stop that. Don’t make excuses. His 6.86 second-half FIP was more than a run higher than anyone else’s (Jered Weaver was second worst at 5.67). When you make 2016 Jered Weaver look appealing, you need to take a hard look in the mirror. If you rostered him in any capacity in the second half, you need to take an even harder look in the mirror. His days of fantasy usefulness are likely gone for good.

New Favorite Player: DJ LeMahieu

You wouldn’t guess it due to how many hot takes were flying around about LeMahieu sitting out the last few games of the season in order to preserve his NL Batting Title, but he did make a ton of new fans with his strong 2016. He crossed the 100-run and 10-homer marks for the first time in his career this season, and also delivered a career-high 66 RBIs to go with that wild .348 average. His OPS shot up from .746 to .911. While he only stole 11 bases compared to 2015’s 23, but I think we can call it even given the gains everywhere else.

"I'm Not Drafting Him in 2017": Everyone.

While this was one of the more open-ended questions, it’s still impressive that there wasn’t a single repeat customer across all of the ballots. My only conclusion is that just about everyone who didn't have a top-10 season is likely hated by someone out there. I love it. The reasoning ranged from the rational (not drafting Gary Sanchez because the price will be too rich) to the emotional (“Adam Wainwright is dead to me”). Let’s face it, this is part of what makes fantasy baseball (and fantasy sports in general) so much fun.