2014 MVPs

It's been a long time since a pitcher was named National League MVP.  It was so long ago that there were only 20 teams in the Majors, the postseason consisted of just the World Series, and man had yet to walk on the Moon.  Bob Gibson took home the honors in 1968, when he had an otherworldly 1.12 ERA in the "Year of the Pitcher." 

After 46 years, that's going to change.  Because anyone who doesn't think Clayton Kershaw was the most dominant, most important, most valuable player in all of baseball in the year 2014 either doesn't know what they're talking about or only saw him giving up Cardinals home runs in the Division Series.  And don't give me any of that "pitchers shouldn't be MVP" crap.  The rules say they're allowed to, and Justin Verlander won in the AL three years ago, so there goes that argument.

Any knowledgeable baseball fan knows that this year's NL MVP race shouldn't even be close.  In fact, it should be almost as unanimous as his Cy Young.  Because even if you don't think pitchers should be MVP, you can't argue with Kershaw's impact on the Dodgers' season. 

His pitching stats stand by themselves.  That's why he won his second straight Cy Young unanimously.  But his pitching stats aren't even the reason why Kershaw should be the runaway choice as National League Most Valuable Player.  The Dodgers went 20-1 over his final 21 starts, and ended up 20 games over .500 over the whole season in games Kershaw started.  They finished 94-68, which means they were only six games over in the games he didn't start.  So, Clayton Kershaw simply being on the field gave the Dodgers a better chance of winning than when he wasn't.  Without him, they don't win the division and they probably don't even make the playoffs.  They're just another slightly above-average team.

That's not to take anything away from the other two finalists.  Giancarlo Stanton perhaps could've given Kershaw a run for his money had he not missed the final three weeks of the season after that horrific hit by pitch on September 11.  The most feared offensive player in the NL still ended up leading the league with 37 home runs, and he finished second in RBIs.  And he's the only guy in the Marlins lineup, which means Stanton gets the Barry Bonds treatment a lot of the time.

Andrew McCutchen was a deserving winner last season, and he's a finalist again this year.  He's the main reason for this Pirates renaissance that has resulted in back-to-back playoff appearances after 21 straight losing seasons.  Like Stanton, McCutchen was great this season.  In any other year, their performance might've been MVP-worthy.  But everything they did pales in comparison to Clayton Kershaw.  He had a regular season for the ages.

Clayton Kershaw had a special season, and he's going to make history.  He'll not only become the first National League pitcher to win MVP in 46 years, he'll become the first left-handed pitcher to win since the Tigers' Guillermo Hernandez in 1984 and the first lefty starter to be named MVP since Vida Blue in 1971 (and the first NL lefty since a certain former Dodger in 1963).  It'll also be the first time since the Rookie of the Year was first awarded in 1947 that a National League position player didn't win a single postseason award (although that has happened four times in the American League, including 2011).

Speaking of the American League, it looks like the Tigers' MVP streak is going to end at three.  That's because Miguel Cabrera decided to roam amongst us mere mortals in 2014.  And as a result, Mike Trout won't finish second to him this year.  After finishing second behind Cabrera in each of his first two Major League seasons, it looks like the third time's the charm for Trout to finally win his first MVP award.  The funny part is that this might've been the third-best season of his career.  But this was also the year that Mike Trout made his postseason debut, as the Angels put together the best record in baseball.

Trout should be almost as much of a runaway as Kershaw, maybe more.  It's been fairly obvious that he's going to win for a while now that the only real question regarding the AL MVP race was who's going to finish second to Trout.  And I've gotta admit, I was surprised by the other two finalists.  Victor Martinez of the Tigers and Michael Brantley of the Indians.  Where's Nelson Cruz?  Where's Robinson Cano?  Where's Jose Altuve?  Where's Jose Abreu?

Don't get me wrong, Martinez and Brantley certainly did their part in justifying their roles as finalists.  V-Mart proved his value every day.  And perhaps the most important thing he did was force Tigers opponents to pitch to Miggy by offering the type of protection that Prince Fielder didn't.  Martinez also crushed 32 homers for good measure.  Brantley, meanwhile, had his breakout season for the Indians.  He had 200 hits, 40 doubles, 20 homers and 20 steals, becoming the first hitter in Cleveland history to do that.

I'm not saying these guys don't deserve to be finalists.  I'd just have them a little lower on my 10-man ballot.  In fact, here's what it would look like in the AL: 1. Trout, 2. Cruz, 3. Martinez, 4. Abreu, 5. Brantley, 6. Cano, 7. Altuve, 8. Cabrera, 9. Josh Donaldson, 10. Jose Bautista.  And in the NL: 1. Kershaw, 2. Stanton, 3. McCutchen, 4. Adrian Gonzalez, 5. Madison Bumgarner, 6. Matt Carpenter, 7. Adam LaRoche, 8. Buster Posey, 9. Justin Morneau, 10. Freddie Freeman.