Sometimes the debate over baseball’s Most Valuable Player awards ends almost as soon as it begins. In recent years, players such as Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols often dominated the opposition so thoroughly that balloting became a formality.
This is not one of those seasons. Both leagues feature numerous players with strong cases for hardware. Here’s a look at the candidates:
American League
It’s another Miguel Cabrera-Mike Trout showdown for American League MVP.
Either Cabrera will win his second consecutive MVP for leading the Detroit Tigers to a division title as baseball’s best hitter, or voters will ignore the Los Angeles Angels’ losing record and reward Trout for being MLB’s best all-around player.
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Cabrera led the American League with a .348 batting average, a .442 on-base percentage and a .636 slugging percentage, hitting 44 home runs as the Tigers claimed the AL Central. If he ends up with another MVP – and there’s every reason to expect he’ll win – it will be tough to dispute the selection.
But he’s not the best choice for the award.
Trout hit .323 with a .432 on-base percentage and a .557 slugging percentage. He also hit 27 home runs with more doubles (39), triples and stolen bases (33) than Cabrera. He led all AL players in walks (110) and runs scored (109). And he did so while playing centre field.
Add up the hitting, the baserunning and the defence and you get a player who generated 10.4 wins above replacement (WAR) to Cabrera’s 7.6. While Trout played for a losing team, he added more value than any player in the AL, Cabrera included. That should make the 22-year-old the MVP in 2013.
Though much of the debate revolves around Cabrera and Trout, it should be noted that infielders Josh Donaldson, Evan Longoria and Robinson Cano were also among the AL’s best. Chris Davis has a good chance at a top-three finish after leading the league with 53 home runs and 138 RBI.
National League
Identifying the NL MVP candidates is much easier than distinguishing between them. The field includes a starting pitcher, a catcher, a middle infielder and the usual assortment of first basemen and outfielders:
• Paul Goldschmidt led the league in home runs and RBI
• Joey Votto hit 24 home runs while leading the league in on-base percentage
• Clayton Kershaw posted a 1.83 ERA in 236 innings
• Matt Carpenter posted a .392 on-base percentage while hitting 55 doubles
• Yadier Molina, arguably the best defensive catcher in MLB, posted an .836 OPS
• Andrew McCutchen led the league in wins above replacement
McCutchen may be the sentimental favourite to win, since he led the Pittsburgh Pirates to their first post-season berth since 1992. He’s also among the most deserving candidates for the award after hitting 21 home runs with a .404 on-base percentage and strong centre field defence.
Comparisons between centre fielders such as McCutchen and starting pitchers such as Kershaw or catchers such as Molina are inevitably imperfect. But we do know this: McCutchen ranked in the top 10 in the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs, stolen bases, walks and doubles.
McCutchen does a lot of things at an elite level and voters recognized as much in 2012, when he placed third in the NL MVP race. This year he should win the award for a season of dynamic offence and defence.
The feel-good story in Pittsburgh is just a bonus.