Tale of the MVP Tape
Jacoby Ellsbury is routinely mentioned as an MVP candidate in the AL, but Adrian Gonzalez is not. I never questioned this; AG dropped off (a lot, it seemed) and never really felt like the MVP after the All-Star break. But to me Jacoby never felt like MVP either.
So I looked at the numbers. Baseball Reference knows all.
More on Jacoby here, and more on AG here. Maybe AG should get some MVP votes too.
I don't have a vote (We're working on it), but if I did I'd vote for Justin Verlander. His so-so postseason doesn't matter, because the votes are taken at the end of the regular season. Does anyone think the Tigers would have done as well without him? Yes, he's a pitcher, and is a shoo-in for the Cy Young, but he can be MVP too. We've been over this.
Who wins? I don't know, but my guess is: none of these three guys. Most voters will look right past Ellsbury and Gonzalez, because of September.
So I looked at the numbers. Baseball Reference knows all.
|
| Jacoby Ellsbury | Adrian Gonzalez |
| Average | .321 | .338 |
| HRs | 32 | 27 |
| RBIs | 105 | 117 |
| The Sacred OBP | .376 | .410 |
More on Jacoby here, and more on AG here. Maybe AG should get some MVP votes too.
I don't have a vote (We're working on it), but if I did I'd vote for Justin Verlander. His so-so postseason doesn't matter, because the votes are taken at the end of the regular season. Does anyone think the Tigers would have done as well without him? Yes, he's a pitcher, and is a shoo-in for the Cy Young, but he can be MVP too. We've been over this.
Who wins? I don't know, but my guess is: none of these three guys. Most voters will look right past Ellsbury and Gonzalez, because of September.
