National League
The American League MVP race has gotten all the attention, but the National League race is just as interesting. Several different players led the MVP race over the course of the season, and we have no real idea on who will end up taking home the hardware. For our SB Nation Player of the Year Award, though, our writers only gave first place votes to three players, giving Buster Posey the runaway victory.
Posey, whose playing future seemed in doubt from a gruesome ankle injury in 2011, returned with a vengeance, leading the World Series Champion Giants with a ridiculous .336/.408/.549 line for a catcher. Overall, he led the league in fWAR (8.0), rWAR (7.2), and VORP (68.6). Ryan Braun followed his MVP season with nearly an identical season for Milwaukee, and Andrew McCutchen faded in the second half but still left enough of an impression to finish third. Carlos Gonzalez earned one sixth place vote.
Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Buster Posey | San Francisco Giants | 26 | 6 | 3 | 442 | |||||||
Ryan Braun | Milwaukee Brewers | 7 | 16 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 330 | |||||
Andrew McCutchen | Pittsburgh Pirates | 2 | 7 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 277 | |||||
David Wright | New York Mets | 2 | 6 | 5 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 204 | ||
Chase Headley | San Diego Padres | 2 | 13 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 190 | |||
Yadier Molina | St. Louis Cardinals | 4 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 189 | ||
Jason Heyward | Atlanta Braves | 2 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 90 | ||||
Aramis Ramirez | Milwaukee Brewers | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 48 | ||||
Michael Bourn | Atlanta Braves | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 47 | |||||
Matt Holliday | St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 28 | |||||
Joey Votto | Cincinnati Reds | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 25 | ||||||
Clayton Kershaw | Los Angeles Dodgers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 24 | ||||||
Gio Gonzalez | Washington Nationals | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 21 | ||||||
Aaron Hill | Arizona Diamondbacks | 3 | 4 | 4 | 21 | |||||||
Ian Desmond | Washington Nationals | 2 | 3 | 2 | 19 | |||||||
Jay Bruce | Cincinnati Reds | 1 | 1 | 1 | 14 | |||||||
R.A. Dickey | New York Mets | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 | ||||||
Giancarlo Stanton | Miami Marlins | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | |||||||
Carlos Ruiz | Philadelphia Phillies | 1 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||
Adam LaRoche | Washington Nationals | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
Matt Kemp | Los Angeles Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
Johnny Cueto | Cincinnati Reds | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||||||||
Martin Prado | Atlanta Braves | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||||||
Carlos Gonzalez | Colorado Rockies | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
Chipper Jones | Atlanta Braves | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
Bryce Harper | Washington Nationals | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
Allen Craig | St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
Melky Cabrera | San Francisco Giants | 2 | 4 | |||||||||
Ryan Zimmerman | Washington Nationals | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
Carlos Beltran | St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
Craig Kimbrel | Atlanta Braves | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
Alfonso Soriano | Chicago Cubs | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
Paul Goldschmidt | Arizona Diamondbacks | 1 | 1 |
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American League
Ah, the race of endless debate. Miguel Cabrera broke the near-half-century drought of the Triple Crown, yet Mike Trout was one of the best players at practically every skill that can be measured. It is likely that BBWAA will name Miguel Cabrera the MVP tonight on the strength of that Triple Crown, which is exceedingly ironic. The older writers at BBWAA have typically woven their arguments on narrative and intangibles - a winning team, baserunning, defense, a good story - while attempting not to be confined by rigid statistics. Instead, it is the statistically-minded championing the intangibles, defense and baserunning, while many members of BBWAA are pointing to numbers as the end of their argument. It is really quite weird.
At any rate, SB Nation tends to have a stable of writers that have risen to their crafts in large part due to Moneyball and the SABR movement. As a result, the Triple Crown did not leave large enough impression on SB Nation voters.
Mike Trout won in a landslide, with four voters going as far as dropping Miguel Cabrera and his triple crown outside the second slot. Congratulations Mike Trout. You might not win the BBWAA MVP, but today, you easily won the SB Nation Player of the Year. Maybe someday, that will be worth something.
Player | Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mike Trout | Los Angeles Angels | 22 | 4 | 344 | ||||||||
Miguel Cabrera | Detroit Tigers | 4 | 18 | 3 | 1 | 249 | ||||||
Robinson Cano | New York Yankees | 1 | 14 | 8 | 2 | 189 | ||||||
Adrian Beltre | Texas Rangers | 3 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 177 | |||||
Justin Verlander | Detroit Tigers | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 115 | |||||
Josh Hamilton | Texas Rangers | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 70 | |||||
Ben Zobrist | Tampa Bay Rays | 1 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 64 | ||||
Adam Jones | Baltimore Orioles | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 58 | |||||
David Price | Tampa Bay Rays | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 44 | ||||||
Prince Fielder | Detroit Tigers | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 44 | ||||
Edwin Encarnacion | Toronto Blue Jays | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 43 | |||||
Alex Gordon | Kansas City Royals | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 29 | |||||
Felix Hernandez | Seattle Mariners | 2 | 3 | 3 | 25 | |||||||
Joe Mauer | Minnesota Twins | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 24 | |||||
Austin Jackson | Detroit Tigers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 19 | ||||||
Torii Hunter | Los Angeles Angels | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
Fernando Rodney | Tampa Bay Rays | 2 | 6 | |||||||||
Josh Reddick | Oakland Athletics | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||||||||
Albert Pujols | Los Angeles Angels | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||||||
Josh Willingham | Minnesota Twins | 1 | 1 | 4 | ||||||||
Chris Sale | Chicago White Sox | 1 | 2 | 4 | ||||||||
Alex Rios | Chicago White Sox | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
Dustin Pedroia | Boston Red Sox | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
Yoenis Cespedes | Oakland Athletics | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
J.J. Hardy | Baltimore Orioles | 1 | 1 |