Altuve/Stanton win MVP

[soxfan1468927]

First time the two MVPs wore the same number since Barry Bonds and Rickey Henderson in 1990. Fun fact.

 

[soxfan1468927]

Jose Altuve becomes the 5th player to win AL MVP and the World Series in the same year since playoff expansion in 1969. Last done by Willie Hernandez in 1984. The others were Cal Ripken in 1983, Reggie Jackson in 1973, and Boog Powell in 1970.

Obviously prior that, with only one team making it right to the World Series in each league, it was common as the MVP often came from the pennant winning teams.

This has happened 3 times in the NL since Willie Hernandez. Kris Bryant in 2016, Buster Posey in 2012, and Kirk Gibson in 1988.

 

[redseat]

Altuve also becomes the shortest player to win the award.. I believe

 

[soxfan1468927]

Altuve also becomes the shortest player to win the award.. I believe

I'm sure that's true. And I'm pretty sure Stanton just became the tallest.

 

[redseat]

I'm sure that's true. And I'm pretty sure Stanton just became the tallest.

until Judge wins it next year. But yeah I do believe I heard something about Altuve being the shortest.

 

[Mike A. S.]

until Judge wins it next year. But yeah I do believe I heard something about Altuve being the shortest.

I've not heard anything about it but I'm sure there's no way someone shorter than Altuve has ever won one. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find someone shorter than Altuve that has even played in the MLB!

 

[soxfan1468927]

AL MVP
1. Jose Altuve
2. Aaron Judge
3. Jose Ramirez
4. Mike Trout
5. Francisco Lindor
6. Mookie Betts
7. Corey Kluber
8. Andrelton Simmons
9. Chris Sale
10. Nelson Cruz
11. Brian Dozier
12. Jonathan Schoop
13. George Springer
t-14. Jose Abreu
t-14. Eric Hosmer
16. Justin Upton
17. Carlos Correa
18. Byron Buxton
19. Marwin Gonzalez
t-20. Edwin Encarnacion
t-20. Didi Gregorius
t-22. Khris Davis
t-22. Josh Donaldson
t-22. Gary Sanchez

 

[soxfan1468927]

I've not heard anything about it but I'm sure there's no way someone shorter than Altuve has ever won one. You'd probably be hard-pressed to find someone shorter than Altuve that has even played in the MLB!

Wee Willie Keeler is a HOFer!

 

[soxfan1468927]

NL MVP
1. Giancarlo Stanton
2. Joey Votto
3. Paul Goldschmidt
4. Nolan Arenado
5. Charlie Blackmon
6. Anthony Rendon
7. Kris Bryant
8. Justin Turner
9. Cody Bellinger
10. Max Scherzer
11. Tommy Pham
12. Bryce Harper
13. Anthony Rizzo
14. J.D. Martinez
t-15. Kenley Jansen
t-15. Marcell Ozuna
t-17. Clayton Kershaw
t-17. Corey Seager
19. Daniel Murphy
t-20. Archie Bradley
t-20. Zack Greinke
t-20. Ryan Zimmerman

 

[soxfan1468927]

The NL voting saw 6 players receive 1st place votes. First time in any league since the 2011 AL MVP race, and first time in the NL since 8 players received 1st place votes in 1979 (and Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez tied for the win).

 

[soxfan1468927]

Judge became the 4th rookie to finish in the top 2 in MVP voting. Two have won (Fred Lynn, 1975; Ichiro, 2001) and Mike Trout in 2012 was the other rookie to finish 2nd.

No NL rookie has finished higher than 3rd.

 

[StanMarsh51]

In before the D'Backs fans come complaining that Goldschmidt was screwed like they always do...

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Altuve's was well-deserved. Not so sure about Stanton's. Yeah, yeah, "home runs" and so forth, I just don't see his as so much of a slam dunk as was Altuve's

 

[soxfan1468927]

Stanton was the first Marlins player to win the award. Now only the Mets, Diamondbacks, and Rays have never had an MVP winner.

 

[Mike A. S.]

Altuve's was well-deserved. Not so sure about Stanton's. Yeah, yeah, "home runs" and so forth, I just don't see his as so much of a slam dunk as was Altuve's

Agreed that it wasn't as much of a "slam-dunk", but you also can't argue that it was deserving. Maybe there is room for doubt whether or not someone else deserved it more, but nonetheless his was still earned. He also hit a solid average and played good defense. So he wasn't one of those literal "Home Run or nothing" kind of players.

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Stanton was the first Marlins player to win the award. Now only the Mets, Diamondbacks, and Rays have never had an MVP winner.

I'd rather have a World Series

 

[Used 2 B Hu]

Agreed that it wasn't as much of a "slam-dunk", but you also can't argue that it was deserving. Maybe there is room for doubt whether or not someone else deserved it more, but nonetheless his was still earned. He also hit a solid average and played good defense. So he wasn't one of those literal "Home Run or nothing" kind of players.

Fair enough...he wasn't Aaron Judge (who still finished second in the AL)

 

[soxfan1468927]

Altuve's was well-deserved. Not so sure about Stanton's. Yeah, yeah, "home runs" and so forth, I just don't see his as so much of a slam dunk as was Altuve's

NL MVP was really tight and the voting reflected that. Stanton did lead all position players in both baseball-reference and fangraphs WAR. My vote would have gone to Arenado, but it was really close. And I really had to dig to find major differences. One of the things I found was Arenado's play against winning teams and his clutch play put him over the top for me.

For a comparison between Arenado and Stanton in terms of those two aspects:

Stanton vs teams with a losing record: 436 plate appearances, 1.106 OPS
Stanton vs teams with a winning record: 256 plate appearances, .842 OPS

Arenado vs teams with a losing record: 385 plate appearances, .953 OPS
Arenado vs teams with a winning record: 295 plate appearances, .967 OPS

Stanton with 2 outs and runners in scoring position: .215/.338/.385/.722
Arenado with 2 outs and runners in scoring position: .359/.481/.797/1.278

And due largely to his play in high-leverage situations, Arenado's WPA was 4.9 to Stanton's 4.8. They were 1 and 2 in the league.

And I understand that Arenado plays at Coors, but his road tOPS+ (which measures his OPS in that split compared to his total OPS) was 86 compared to 85 for Stanton.

There are a few other things, and I won't dig this deep into the numbers unless it's really close, and this year it was.

 

[soxfan1468927]

I'd rather have a World Series

I would assume that

 

[soxfan1468927]

This is the 3rd straight year that at least one of the MVPs came from a team that didn't make the playoffs.

2015 Harper
2016 Trout
2017 Stanton