With the MVP voting coming out it was almost shocking to see that both Halladay and Phillies slugger Ryan Howard finished in the top ten. Halladay was in 9th place, while Howard took 10th. Curious enough however was that the Cy Young winner of Kershaw finished below both Howard and Halladay in the voting. When I saw these results I asked myself, "how does the best pitcher get less MVP votes than the 2nd best pitcher?"
I thought maybe it was based on offensive stats but those are so insignificant for a pitcher. Both guys must have been judged on their pitching skills mainly if not solely for voting purposes. Looking at the results left me with only one possible option and that is that the voters of the MVP care more about making playoffs then do the voters of the Cy Young.
Qualifications seem to be different in order to win these awards based on the results. To win the Cy Young you just have to be the best pitcher in the league. Sounds simple enough. To win the MVP however it is almost as if you have to be on a playoff team. That is unless your stats are incredibly better than the field. Look at the results from the past six years:
2005: Alex Rodriguez NYY/ Albert Pujols STL
2006: Justin Morneau MIN/ Ryan Howard PHI (.313 avg/ 58 HR/ 149 RBI)
2007: Alex Rodriguez NYY/ Jimmy Rollins PHI
2008: Dustin Pedroia BOS/ Albert Pujols STL (100 runs/ 37 HR/ 116 RBI/ .357 avg)
2009: Joe Mauer MIN/ Albert Pujols STL
2010: Josh Hamilton TEX/ Joey Votto CIN
Out of this list only two players, Howard and Pujols were not on playoff teams at the time of their award, but looking at the stats it is hard to see how anyone else could have won the award. This goes in with my argument that only if stats are that much greater than the rest can a player not on an playoff team win the MVP.
Need more proof? Look at some of the basic comparisons between player A and player B.
Player A: .332 avg/ 33 HR/ 111 RBI/ .397 OBP/ .597 SLG/ 109 R/ 33 SB
Player B: .324 avg/ 39 HR/ 126 RBI/ .399 OBP/ .586 SLG/ 115 R/ 40 SB
Player B finished in the top three of all major offensive categories including leading the NL in HR, RBI and R and finishing 2nd in SB, SLG and OPS and 3rd in batting average. Player A was 1st in SLG and OPS, 2nd in batting average and runs scored and 4th in RBI, 6th in HR. There really isn't that much separating Player A and B other than the fact that Player A helped to lead his team to their first division title in 30 years and Player B did not make the playoffs.
Proving the point that the Cy Young can be won by non playoff pitchers, Clayton Kershaw of the LA Dodgers was this year's recipient. Kershaw's stats were comparable to Roy Halladay's but ultimately Kershaw had the edge shown in his almost unanimous winning of the award. Just like Player A and B, Kershaw and Halladay were very close in stats. Unlike A and B, the Cy went to Kershaw despite his being on an 82-79 Dodgers team. The other Dodger who if you haven't guessed already is Matt Kemp as Player B, did not win the MVP. Ryan Braun, Player A, did.
Now, I am not saying with certainty that Braun won the MVP because his Brewers made the playoffs, but it is a factor that couldn't have hurt and that based on past voting cannot be ignored. It has become clear to me that being on a playoff team is thing to push a player over the edge. You could look at Kemp and think that he should have won and likely I agree that he should have. But it seems that according to the voters, it is harder to prove yourself as baseball's Most Valuable Player when you can't get your team to the playoffs. That being said, Kemp was in a Dodgers line-up where he was really the only offensive threat. Braun was aided by hitting behind 3rd place NL MVP finisher, Prince Fielder.
This can be said as true for the AL too. This year Justin Verlander of the Tigers won both the Cy Young and MVP. It is certainly odd for a pitcher to win an MVP but the overlooked candidates were on the Red Sox and Blue Jays, both teams that didn't make the playoffs.
Jose Bautista: .302 avg/ 43 HR/ 103 RBI/ .447 OBP/ .608 SLG/ 105 R
Jacoby Ellsbury: .321 avg/ 32 HR/ 105 RBI/ .376 OBP/ .552 SLG/ 119 R
Justin Verlander: 2.40 ERA/ 24-5 W/L / 250 SO/ .92 WHIP/ .828 Winning %
Now, looking at these stats it is clear Verlander had a phenomenal year. He led the AL in all major pitching categories and finished 4th in CG. Also looking at these stats though it is easy to make a case for why 2nd place finisher Jacoby Ellsbury should have won the award. Verlander was the best pitcher but considering he played only 34 games to Ellsbury's 158. I am a firm believer that a pitcher only going once every five days should not win the MVP unless they truly were baseball's most valuable player and I don't think Verlander was. That being said it is quite possible Ellsbury was hurt in the voting by the fact of the Red Sox epic collapse to end the season resulting in missing the playoffs.
So for guys like Kemp and Ellsbury missing out on the playoffs began the uphill battle for them to win the MVP. As I said, it can't be guaranteed that making playoffs decided why Braun and Verlander won the awards, but as the past has dictated, it is definitely helpful when the voters make their decisions.
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