Stop changing the rules for your favorite player.

Some fans do their finest negotiating in September. Defense counts heavily until their MVP candidate is a designated hitter. Durability is essential until he misses a month. Then the terms change, and somehow the same player still wins.

Pick the standard before picking the favorite. That is our rule for awards season. A Yankees cap is a perfectly good thing to wear to an argument; it is a poor substitute for one.

The polls are signposts, not results

MLB.com’s September 15 Cy Young poll unanimously favored Cam Schlittler and Jacob Misiorowski in their respective leagues.

Its September 2 rookie poll placed Kevin McGonigle and Sal Stewart first in their leagues.

These are dated surveys, not official results. They give fans something to discuss while the season finishes. We are not publishing an S&S ballot or a live statistical ranking here. We are laying out what ought to count when we make those choices.

MVP: a losing team is not an automatic veto

The BBWAA’s MVP instructions allow a winner from a team that misses the playoffs. Pitchers and designated hitters are eligible. The ballot asks voters to consider offense, defense and games played, with only regular-season performance counting.

That makes sense. A great player cannot appoint his own teammates. Leave an outstanding season off the ballot because the bullpen failed, and you are charging the hitter for work somebody else did. On the other side, a contender’s most famous player still has to earn his place. October admission is not an MVP credential.

Pressure is a reasonable part of the discussion. A big hit in a close September race can carry more weight in memory than one in May. But memory is selective. A team that built a comfortable lead did valuable work, too. Explain how much extra credit pressure deserves before you discover that your favorite happens to need it.

Cy Young: the win column is not the whole case

For pitchers, the temptation is the win column. It is easy to read and sounds decisive. Yet a starter can pitch beautifully and receive no decision, or spend an uncomfortable afternoon on the mound and win because his teammates scored enough. Credit the victory. Then look at the pitching.

Run prevention and workload come first for us, followed by strikeouts, walks and the circumstances behind the numbers. A slight rate advantage over far fewer innings is not an automatic win. Neither is piling up innings while allowing substantially more damage. Both candidates have a case to make.

Estimates can help explain why a pitcher’s results look the way they do. They should not erase those results. If the measures disagree, tell readers why instead of reaching for whichever column flatters your choice. And stop the comparisons on the same date. A leaderboard assembled from different cutoffs is an argument with moving parts nobody can see.

Rookie of the Year is not a prospect ranking

Rookie of the Year is not a draft for the next ten seasons. The most exciting prospect may be the player you would rather build around. That does not mean he had the best rookie year. Reputation ought to get a young player our attention, not a lead on the ballot.

A dazzling short run can make this difficult. How much should it outweigh the work of a rookie who helped his club for months? There is room to disagree. There is less room to replace the missing games with an optimistic forecast and call it a completed season.

What would change your mind?

Try this before arguing your choice: name the strongest reason to vote for somebody else. If you cannot find one, you may have stopped looking. The better your answer, the more convincing your eventual vote becomes.

BBWAA ballots are submitted before the postseason. October will supply its own heroes and arguments. This ballot belongs to the regular season, including the parts that were inconvenient for your favorite.