Largest and smallest take MVP honors

Phil Gurnee ♦ November 17, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

Jose Altuve and Aaron Judge are about as opposite as you can get on a baseball field but they both had MVP type seasons and that might be why baseball is the greatest game of all. No matter how big or how small, desire and athletic skill can get you on the big stage.  Jose Altuve won the AL MVP as he continues to morph into this generations Joe Morgan complete with World Series ring.

The giant Giancarlo Stanton had to fight off Votto and Goldschmidt to win his NL MVP.

Dodgers got little love in MVP voting for a team that won a franchise-tying record of 104 wins. Which of course made me wonder, how did other teams that have won 102 or more games do in MVP voting.

Let us find out.

2016 – Cubs won 103 games, Kris Bryant won the MVP

2011 – Phillies won 102 games but the highest ranked was the recently deceased Doc Halladay who placed 9th. They had five players receive an MVP vote including ex-Dodgers Carlos Ruiz, Shane Victorino. That seems to be the best comp for the Dodgers in that numerous players received an MVP vote but no one was considered one of the top five players in the league. A team effort indeed.

2009 – NYY won 103 games but they went a different route than the Phillies. They also had five players get MVP votes but two of them Teixeira and Jeter finished 2nd and 3rd in the voting.

2004 – Cardinals won 105 games and were 3/4/5 in the voting with Pujols / Rolen / Edmunds.  That was kind of how I thought it was going for the Dodgers in July with Bellinger/Turner/Seager.

2002 – the NYY and A’s both won 103 games. Miguel Tejeda of the A’s won the MVP. Zito and Chavez were 13th and 14th, with Billy Koch plugging in at 18. The NYY placed 3rd, 5th, and 10th, with Soriano, Giambi, and Bernie Williams.

2001 – the historical 116 win season by the Mariners. Remember when the Dodgers were on track to better that as last as July 31st?  Ichiro won the MVP vote and steroid poster child Brett Boone was 3rd.

Okay, that is it for the 21st century which is where I’ll stop.