The NL MVP award may have ultimately went to Albert Pujols, even though I don't think you should be able to win such an award if you don't make it to the playoffs. It's the second award for Pujols, who is high on my list of "Players I Would Like if They Weren't in the Same Division of My Favorite Team" (see: Adrian Peterson). Nevertheless, congrats to the big man.Pujols beat out Ryan Howard for the award, 369 points to 308. Coming in third? Milwaukee Brewers left-fielder Ryan Braun.
I was actually a bit surprised by this news, because I don't think Braun was even the MVP of his own team. Granted, Sabathia was only with the Brewers for half a season, but I still think he was the most valuable player to that club this season.
Nevertheless, Braun finished with two second-place votes and three third-place votes, earning a total of 139 points. As Brewers fans, we all know that Braun had one hell of a season, but his success has never really been a secret. Last year, of course, Braun was named the NL Rookie of the Year. This year, he takes third in the MVP voting and is a Silver Slugger.
As for the aforementioned Sabathia, he took sixth in the NL MVP voting with 121 points, and was the highest pitcher on the list. Prince Fielder also garnered 11 points in the voting.
6 comments:
No question, Pujols should have been the MVP this year. The notion that you have to be from a playoff team is silly. Without Pujols, there's no way the Cardinals stay in the race as long as they did. The Brewers were just four games better than the Cardinals this year (86 wins). .357/.462/.653, 37 homers, 104 walks, 54 strikeouts, stellar defense.
Let's compare his season to, for example, Ryan Howard's, via OPS each month:
Pujols: 1.117, 1.160, 1.003, .978, 1.236, 1.130
Howard: .640, .934, .726, .978, .791, 1.274
If Albert Pujols had the best stats in the NL... then let's give him the NL Player of the Year Award. I find it amazing how many people forget what MVP means. Most VALUABLE Player. To quote Pushing Daisies, "the facts are these...."
If Albert Pujols isn't on the Cardinals... the Cardinals still don't make the playoffs.
If Ryan Howard isn't on the Phillies... the Phillies still make the playoffs, either through the Wild Card or the NL East.
If either Ryan Braun OR CC Sabathia aren't on the Brewers.. then there is no way the Brewers make the playoffs.
CC may not have gotten the award because he only played half a year, but are you really going to tell me Albert Pujols was more valuable to St. Louis this season than Sabathia was to the Brewers. Or Manny was to the Dodgers, for that matter?
Baseball got it wrong again.
When has baseball gotten it right?
By the bye: Love Daisies.
sounds like pushing daisies should be in the poll question.
A starting pitcher should never be MVP. A guy who plays every 6 days is never the team's most valuable player.
I think baseball got it right. I think the MVP means the player with the most value, or the player I would want the most on my team. With that said who was better this year than Pujols?
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