Miguel Cabrera Wins Second Straight AL MVP Award

He didn’t win the Triple Crown this year but the Detroit Tigers Miguel Cabrera put together another stellar season and won his second straight American League Most Valuable Player Award.  Cabrera won the A.L. batting title with a career high .348 batting average, 44 homers and 137 RBIs.  His home run and RBI totals were second in the A.L. 

Like last year, Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout was second in the balloting, which is conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America.  And like last year, Trout’s supporters have come out of the wood work, bearing pitchforks, blogs, and statistics (especially WAR or Wins Above Replacement) that they say show Trout is the best player in the game when all factors including speed and defense are taken into account.

But the Most Valuable Player Award is not the Best WAR Award, nor is it the Best Overall Player in the Game Today award.  It’s an award for whom the writers believe was the most valuable in the league this season, and some subjectivity figures into it.  Players from lousy teams sometimes win the MVP award, but usually it’s awarded to a player who plays a key role in getting his team to the post season, something Cabrera did but Trout could not do with the underachievers surrounding him on the Angels.

Cabrera also won the Player of the Year award in the Player’s Choice Awards for 2013.  The Player’s Choice Awards are just that:  the voters are the Major League players, in other words, Cabrera’s and Trout’s peers.  That says a lot.  Trout is an outstanding player who will win his share of MVP awards before he’s done, and his supporters shouldn’t take it so personally.