Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs and Carlos Correa of the Houston Astros took home rookie of the year honors Monday night.

Bryant helped get the Cubs back into the postseason for the first time since 2008 and Correa led the Astros back to the postseason for the first time since 2005.

What made Bryant so good?

Bryant compiled 6.0 wins above replacement, the fourth-highest WAR by a rookie in the past 10 seasons. Mike Trout (10.8 in 2012), Troy Tulowitzki (6.8 in 2007) and Jason Heyward (6.4 in 2010) are the only rookies with higher WAR totals during that span.

Bryant led all rookies with 26 home runs in 2015. The last time a Cubs rookie hit at least 25 home runs was Billy Williams in 1961 (25). Williams won rookie of the year that season.

Bryant's season turned on Aug. 2, when he began a 12-game hitting streak (in a game in which he left after sliding into Jean Segura head-first).

Bryant began hitting more line drives. He had 99 fly balls and 45 line drives through Aug. 1. The rest of the season, he had 43 fly balls and 41 line drives.

He still missed on about half of his swings against off-speed pitches, but when he hit them, he did a lot of damage. Bryant had 13 extra-base hits against the first 685 off-speed pitches he saw, but 12 against the last 410.

Defining moment

Bryant had a pair of walk-off home runs, though the first was the more dramatic of the two. The Cubs rallied from a 4-0 deficit and led 7-4 in the ninth inning before the Rockies scored four runs, taking the lead on Carlos Gonzalez’s two-run home run.

Bryant won it with a home run against Rockies closer John Axford with one out in the ninth. He hit .317 with five home runs in 123 at-bats in what Baseball-Reference.com defined as “high-leverage situations” (those which had the biggest impact on winning or losing) in 2015.

What made Correa so good?

Correa hit 22 home runs in 99 games. According to Elias Sports Bureau research, that is six more home runs than any other shortstop through their first 100 games dating back to 1900.

Correa led all shortstops -- not just rookies -- in home runs (22), slugging percentage (.512) and OPS (.857), despite ranking 27th among shortstops in plate appearances. He hit a home run in 5.1 percent of plate appearances on the season, well ahead of the next-closest shortstop, Brandon Crawford, at 3.7 percent.

Correa's power came at both the top and bottom of the strike zone. He had 11 home runs against pitches in the top half of the zone (and above) and 11 in the lower half of the zone (and below). His plate coverage extended to both sides of the zone as well. He had 10 home runs against pitches located on the outer half of the strike zone (or off the outside corner) and 12 on pitches located on the inner half (or off the inside corner).

Defining moment

In a wild July 3 game against the Red Sox, Correa hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning and a go-ahead single in the 10th inning of an eventual 12-8 win.

Correa hit .295 with six home runs in 78 at-bats in high-leverage situations this season. He averaged a home run every 19 at-bats in all other situations.

Correa carried that over into the postseason, hitting .350 with a pair of home runs in the American League Division Series against the Royals, though the Astros lost that series in five games.