“I hope I get to face him quite a bit more. What he did this year was unbelievable.”

Fulmer’s season was less flashy but no less impressive. Although he slumped a bit in the second half, Fulmer nearly won the league’s E.R.A. title, finishing three innings shy of qualifying and posting a mark just six points higher than that of the leader, Aaron Sanchez of Toronto. Fulmer helped the Tigers contend until the last day of the season, and his changeup was nearly invincible: He threw it more than 400 times, and batters hit .167 off it with no home runs.

There was a precedent for a player’s winning the award despite appearing in few games. In 1959, the San Francisco Giants’ Willie McCovey was the unanimous N.L. winner after hitting .354 with 13 home runs in 52 games. But McCovey faced minimal competition that year, mainly from George Altman, a Chicago Cubs outfielder who hit .245 with 12 home runs in 135 games. The St. Louis Cardinals’ Bob Gibson — a future Hall of Famer, like McCovey — had a 3.33 E.R.A. as a rookie that season, but he made only nine starts.

In the N.L. this year, Seager’s selection was all but guaranteed; he is also one of three finalists, with the Cubs’ Kris Bryant and the Washington Nationals’ Daniel Murphy, for the league’s Most Valuable Player Award.

As rookie of the year, Seager takes a prize named for Jackie Robinson, who was the first to receive it, in 1947, when he integrated the major leagues for the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Dodgers now claim 17 rookie of the year winners, more than twice as many as any other franchise. Their last one had been Todd Hollandsworth in 1996, the final year of Tommy Lasorda’s long career as manager.

“It’s awesome to bring it back to L.A.,” Seager said. “It’s known as an organization for winning all those rookies of the year, with Tommy Lasorda and all them. It’s cool to be connected to all the guys that came before you.”

Seager is the younger brother of Kyle Seager, a star third baseman for the Seattle Mariners. Another older brother, Justin, plays in Seattle’s farm system.