2015 American League Most Valuable Player Ballot

by Julian Spivey
It’s been a pretty fantastic season of baseball and as the Major League Baseball (MLB) season winds down this weekend I look forward to what could be the most entertaining postseason in many years.
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But, before we get down to playoff talk, we’ve got to decide which season was most worthy of being named Most Valuable Player. Here’s what my ballot’s top five would look like if I had a vote for the American League MVP …

1. Josh Donaldson
Some people, mostly Sabermetrics nerds, believe that Los Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout should be MVP every single season, but I believe what Josh Donaldson has helped do to the Toronto Blue Jays makes him the obvious candidate. Besides, Trout’s Angels may not even make the playoffs and Donaldson, last offseason’s most important acquisition, has led the Jays to their first postseason berth since 1993, which was the longest active playoff drought for any team in the professional big four sports leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA & NHL). Donaldson is actually only percentage points behind Trout this year in the baseball nerd’s most loved statistic WAR (Wins Above Replacement) with an 8.23 WAR to Trout’s 8.35. Donaldson leads the American League with 123 RBI, is third in the league with 41 homers (tied with Trout) and is hitting .301 this season, which is higher than Trout.

2. Mike Trout
It may sound like I can’t stand Mike Trout based on my reasoning for why Josh Donaldson is more worthy of the A.L. MVP than he is, but the truth is if you’re wanting to take one player in all of baseball to start a franchise with it’s going to be Trout – he’s simply the best player in the game, except for this season (that would be Donaldson or Bryce Harper in the National League). Trout still deserves a ton of MVP votes with his league leading WAR, 41 homers, and 89 RBI (though it should be noted he doesn’t even lead his own team in that category as Albert Pujols has 93 RBI).

3. David Price
Dallas Kuechel has had such a great season for the upstart Houston Astros, leading them to a potential postseason berth out of nowhere, that people seem to have forgotten exactly how great David Price has been for both the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays. Price has a better win percentage (18-5 record) and ERA 2.45 (leads the A.L.) than Kuechel does and it was his trade to the Blue Jays right before the MLB Trade Deadline at the end of July that completely rejuvenated the Jays season and led them to clinching the A.L. East Division and making the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.

4. Dallas Kuechel
Alright, so David Price and Dallas Kuechel could essentially be a toss-up here. Kuechel has led the not-too-long-ago-lowly Houston Astros to the brink of potentially making the postseason with Cy Young award-worthy stuff that includes a 2.48 ERA (just barely behind Price for best in the A.L.) and a league leading 20 wins to only 8 losses. He’ll probably take the A.L. Cy Young this year, though Price should be closer than he’ll likely end up being.

5. Edwin Encarnacion
It might seem ridiculous to have three Toronto Blue Jays on my ballot (and I promise you I’m not a Blue Jays fan), but the team has come from seemingly out of nowhere to become possibly the best team in baseball. Encarnacion has put up big numbers alongside his teammates Josh Donaldson and Jose Bautista with a .276 batting average, 38 homers (seventh in the league) and 109 RBI (fourth in the league). You could make a case that Baltimore Orioles’ Chris Davis or Seattle Mariners’ Nelson Cruz are more worthy, but they both play on much worse teams and I’m not a fan of giving players who have used performance enhancing drugs (in Cruz’s case) such esteemed awards.

Let us know who you think should win American League MVP in the comments … 

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