The MLB MVP awards were handed out on Thursday, and the big winners were Giancarlo Stanton and Jose Altuve. Both players took home their first MVP awards. The high honor caps an incredible season for Altuve in which he also won the World Series, made the All-Star team, and led the league in batting average and hits for the second straight season. As for Stanton, he clubbed 59 home runs, drove in 132 runs, and slugged .631 — all of which led the league. And guess what? He may end up traded this offseason.
Beyond that, there are some really interesting facts and developments we found from the MVP award voting. Here are the eight most interesting developments from the 2017 MVP voting (based on the NL ballot and AL ballot shared by the BBWAA).
1) NL MVP voting was the 4th-closest in history
Stanton won NL MVP by two points over Cincinnati Reds slugger Joey Votto (302 to 300). They each received 10 first-place votes. Stanton received 10 second-place votes, while Votto received nine. Only three other MVP races have been closer. There was a tie in 1979 between Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez. Two previous races were decided by one point (1941 AL MVP – Joe DiMaggio over Ted Williams, and 1944 NL MVP – Marty Marion over Bill Nicholson). If Votto is feeling robbed, he should note that Williams finished second in ’41 despite batting .406.
2) AL MVP was a two-way race
While six different players received first-place votes and five received second-place votes in the NL, the AL MVP race was really a two-player battle. Jose Altuve received 27 of 30 first-place votes, while Aaron Judge received two and Cleveland’s Jose Ramirez received one. Altuve received three second-place votes, while Judge received the other 27. Altuve and Judge were the clear-cut No. 1 and 2 AL MVP contenders.
3) Mike Trout did not finish in the top two for the first time
Since playing his first full season in 2012, Mike Trout has finished in the top two of AL MVP voting every year until now. He has three second-place finishes and two-first place finishes. Unfortunately Trout was sidelined by a thumb injury this year that limited him to 114 games. In his limited time, Trout posted his best on-base percentage (.442), slugging percentage (.629) and OPS (1.071) ever, leading the league in all three marks. He still finished fourth in MVP voting and did so well in his 114 games that he ranked sixth in Baseball-Reference’s WAR calculations for the AL.
4) Kris Bryant got a surprising 1st-place vote
As mentioned, six players received first-place MVP votes in the NL. The biggest surprise of the group was Bryant. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman threw it back to 2016 and gave the reigning NL MVP another first-place nod. Bryant had a higher batting average, on-base percentage, and OPS in 2017 than he did in his 2016 MVP season, but there were so many other players who seemed more qualified for the award this year that the first-place vote for him was surprising. Bryant finished seventh in NL MVP voting overall, making the first-place vote an outlier.
5) Dodgers and Nationals had the strongest NL MVP presence
Though none of their players finished in the top five in NL MVP voting, there were tons of Dodgers and Nationals on the ballots. In fact, the two clubs led the league with five players apiece receiving votes. For the Nats, Anthony Rendon, Max Scherzer, Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Zimmerman all received at least one top 10 NL MVP vote. For the Dodgers, Justin Turner, Cody Bellinger, Kenley Jansen, Clayton Kershaw and Corey Seager all received at least one vote in the top 10. The Dodgers and Nats combined to have 10 of the 22 players who received top 10 votes. No surprise, those teams had the two best regular season records in the NL.
6) Astros and Indians had the strongest AL MVP presence
Much like the NL voting, the two best teams in the AL (by regular season record) had the most players receive votes. Of the 24 players to receive a top 10 vote in AL MVP voting, eight came from Houston and Cleveland. Jose Altuve, George Springer, Carlos Correa and Marwin Gonzalez received top 10 AL MVP votes for Houston. Jose Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber and Edwin Encarnacion received votes for Cleveland. Ramirez, Lindor and Kluber all impressively finished in the top seven in the AL.
7) Archie Bradley got a top 10 NL MVP vote
Only two relief pitchers received top 10 MVP votes this year. Kenley Jansen, who was magnificent as the Dodgers’ closer this season, received a sixth and eight-place vote. The other reliever to receive a vote was Archie Bradley, a setup man for Arizona. Bradley was very good in 2017 — he had a 1.73 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 73 innings — but seeing him receive a vote was odd.
Bay Area writer Andrew Baggarly explained his vote.
“I deemed Bradley the most valuable reliever in the NL. Those guys don’t have a BBWAA award. So I often save 10th place slot for the best one.”
8) Edwin Encarnacion got a 7th-place vote
Now this was a bit of a head-scratcher. Indians DH Edwin Encarnacion received one vote this year, and it was a 7th-place vote. Nobody else had him in the top 10. The New York Post’s George A. King had him in there though. Encarnacion batted just .258 during the season, though he did have 38 home runs. He finished 20th in AL MVP voting, which is the fifth-highest finish of his career.
