1. He is the first player in Major League history to combine at least 45 steals with 30 homers and 125 runs in one season. As in the ONLY ONE IN HISTORY. Modern era, old era and even the ancient Egyptian era.
2. How would you know who is a bigger fan - you do not know me.
3. West is harder - its not a debate its a fact. MIN, KC and CLE are bottom 10 teams in the league and CHI would be last in the West. 3 of 4 teams were in the wild card race until this weekend. Its simply not debatable but good on you for trying.
4. Trout is not only an SB threat. He is an all around player. Its not like he is 30 HR behind Cabrera. Normalized over 162 game season he is 9 HR behind Cabrera.
5. He is a leadoff hitter and he has none of the protection Cabrera does. Howie Kendrick, Ayabar, Izturis and Wells batting before or after him most of the season vs. Fielder, Boesch and Young consistently batting before and after him. That is not even in the realm of being close to the same protection in the order.

You guys can love Cab for a great season. Trout is still better this year. Regardless of the MVP votes.

There it is .... Miguel Cabrera = Triple Crown Winner

For a minute I thought Granderson was going to erupt and spoil it.

Congrats to Miggy. From what I understand he is a good guy and clearly he is one hell of a hitter.

From his twitter: Polished these off as a victory celebration

http://i.imgur.com/TigVR.jpg

Imagine that for a spoiler

Both guys had great years. One thing to remember about Trout is that east coast guys didn't get to see much of him. For example I felt I saw a lot more exposure and coverage on Harper than Trout. So I've known about Cabrera killing it all year long.

I think the MVP race is going to come down to the following numbers.

Mike Trout in September
.257 Avg
21 runs
5 HR
6 RBIs
.835 obs

Cabrera in September
.308
22 Runs
10 Home Runs
27 RBIs
1.032 OBS

One guy helped his team come back and get into the playoffs and the other didn't. That is what an MVP does imo. He steps up when it's time to step up.

I agree completely. When you look at the stats Trout slowed down the last two months of the season. If he wasn't in the lineup the Angels still finish 3rd or 4th in the AL West and don't make the playoffs. Meanwhile Cabrera led his team to the playoffs. Without him they don't make the playoffs.

:1orglaugh funny post

i actually pay attention to baseball, but i do not get more heavily into it until playoff times.

I think the bigger question this year is how the hell did Barry Zito win 15 games and Cliff Lee and Tim Lincecum combine to win only 16?

Yo man, do you think it's time we snatch up his rookie card? how much does his Gem Mint Upper Deck go for?

Unfortunately the Triple Crown isn't a stat, it's simply a cherry-picked, made up thing that has little relevance to the advanced world of baseball statistics in 2012. The triple crown is just a relic from the early 20th century when people knew nothing about the correlation between statistics and their impact on teams winning games. They should make a "triple crown award" and give some big fancy trophy to anyone who wins the triple crown, but it's just ignorant to award the MVP (most valuable to team) award by DEFAULT to someone because they achieve a made-up individual feat. Miguel Cabrera is a lock for the "Guy Who led the league in HRs, RBIs and BA Award" (which doesn't exist) but is in no way a lock for MVP.

Another point: If the MVP is SOLELY driven on statistics, then why is there voting? A computer should just decide who wins MVP based on statistics.

On BOTH sides of the argument, Cabrera is hardly a lock for MVP:

Case A: MVP is subjective, taking into account statistics and the players contribution to his team's success

- The case could be made that Trout is MORE valuable to the angels than cabrera is to the tigers, which is why he will get MVP votes.

Case B: MVP is solely based on statistics

- Since "triple crown" isn't a stat, and given the breadth of stats available and how they show correlation between a player's performance and the contribution to team wins, it could easily be argued that Trout is statistically superior to Cabrera.

Case C: MVP is awarded automatically to someone who leads the league in HRs, RBIs and average (I call this the "Stupid" case)

- Cabrera wins hands down, no need for voting.

How cool is it that Cabrera could play in the world series the same season he won the triple crown.