Each of the seven cases has its own circumstances, with a few players simply putting up indisputable MVP-type numbers – and others also benefitting from there being no obvious candidates on a postseason qualifier. His 8.8 WAR was the third-best in the majors.
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Howard received 20 first-place votes on his way to narrowly edging out then-Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols, who received the other 12 first-place votes after guiding St. Louis to an NL Central crown.
History says: This was Trout’s third runner-up spot in four years, to go along with his unanimous victory last year.
The number one overall pick of the 2010 draft, Harper finally managed to stay healthy over a full season and the results were magnificent. Williams was so thoroughly jobbed in his third and fourth years that almost 75 years later it keeps Trout from having built up the biggest slaughterhouse of MVP beef.
From Donaldson to Martin, it was a lengthy process, weighing the pros and cons of each player, talking with many players and coaches and writers, it was overwhelming at times and it was fun, my first BBWAA awards vote. In the end, A-Rod finished slightly ahead of Carlos Delgado, whose Blue Jays also missed the postseason.
Then Josh Donaldson got in the way. Along with posting an AL-best 47 homers and. In 1991, two teams in each league made the playoffs; today, five do.
Certainly Donaldson brought forth a great case – a better one, frankly, than Cabrera’s Triple Crown season in 2012 (which Trout still deserved in a landslide) and his even better performance in 2013 (which Trout outdid with a superior all-around game). 351 with a 1.139 OPS over 115 plate appearances.
He slugged 56 home runs and drove in a career-best 147 RBI, all while casually winning a Gold Glove in center field.
The former Rookie of the Year, competing at 22 throughout the 2015 season, actually trailed this season’s NL Rookie of the Year victor Kris Benson in age. 277 with 15 homers while driving in 42 while walking 57 times in 310 at bats. “If that was walking, if that was hitting a homer, hitting a double down the line, or getting to first base on a dropped third strike”. To this day, only Alfonso Soriano in 2006 has matched that feat.
Trout only hit.287, but he drove in 111 runs and went deep 36 times. So the only surprise was Harper ended up winning unanimously, the youngest unanimous victor ever. Harper is the first player with such a season since Barry Bonds in 2004.
In the National League, Nationals rightfielder Bryce Harper ran away with it. And his team was far better offensively, helping him obtain more opportunities to score and drive in runs and creating the narrative that he led them to the playoffs.
The outfielder led the majors in slugging percentage and on-base average.
Bonds’ dominance is evidenced by the fact that he beat out Adrian Beltre for the 2004 NL MVP Award, despite Beltre’s Dodgers holding off the Giants for the NL West title.
Bryce Harper had one incredible season.
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He hit.317/.426/.607 with 41 home runs. 368 in his 1994 unanimous MVP season. He received two sixth-place votes, three seventh-place votes, and two tenth-place votes. When the Nationals signed pitcher Max Scherzer to a record contract, Harper was blasted by critics for his comments, which implied a guaranteed World Series win.
