Detroit Tigers third baseman Miguel Cabrera did not duplicate his feat of winning Major League Baseball’s Triple Crown in 2013, but he did duplicate his victory in the American League Most Valuable Player Award balloting by the BBWAA that was announced on MLB Network.
Cabrera, 30, was listed first on 23 of 30 ballots cast by two writers representing each league city and second on the other seven to total 385 points, based on a tabulation system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th. He batted .348 to win his third straight batting title and also led the AL in on-base percentage (.442), slugging percentage (.636), OPS (1.078) and hitting with runners in scoring position (.397) while finishing second in home runs (44), runs batted in (137) and total bases (353).
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim center fielder Mike Trout (.323, 27 HR, 97 RBI), the AL leader in runs (109) and walks (110), received five first-place votes and totaled 282 points to finish as the runner-up for the second year in a row. This was the first time the same two players finished 1-2 in MVP voting two consecutive years since the San Francisco Giants’ Barry Bonds and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols did so in the National League in 2002 and ’03 and the first time in the AL since the New York Yankees’ Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle in 1960 and ’61.
Receiving one first-place vote apiece were Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis (.286, 53 HR, 138 RBI, 370 TB, 103 R), who finished third overall with 232 points, and Oakland Athletics third baseman Josh Donaldson (.301, 24 HR, 93 RBI), who was fourth with 222 points. Cabrera, Trout, Davis and Donaldson were named on every ballot, as was the fifth-place finisher, Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano (.314, 27 HR, 107 RBI).
Rounding out the top 10 were Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria (.269, 32 HR, 88 RBI), Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia (.301, 9 HR, 84 RBI), Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre (.315, 30 HR, 92 RBI, 199 H), Orioles third baseman Manny Machado (.283, 14 HR, 71 RBI, 51 2B) and Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz (.309, 30 HR, 103 RBI). In all, 25 players gained mention in the balloting.
Cabrera became the 26th multiple winner and the 13th in the AL. There have been 12 in the NL. One player, Frank Robinson, was the MVP in each league. It was the 17th time a player won the award in back-to-back years and the seventh time in the AL. Cabrera was the second Detroit player to do it, matching Hal Newhouser in 1944 and ’45. Other AL consecutive winners were Jimmie Foxx (1932-33), Yogi Berra (1954-55), Mantle (1956-57), Maris (1960-61) and Frank Thomas (1993-94). Bonds did it four times in the NL (1992-93, 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04). The other NL consecutive winners were Ernie Banks (1958-59), Joe Morgan (1975-76), Mike Schmidt (1980-81), Dale Murphy (1982-83) and Pujols (2008-09).
It marked the 12th time overall and the third straight year that a Detroit player won the award. Justin Verlander was the 2011 winner. The record is five consecutive years by the Giants from 2000-04. The AL mark is four by the Yankees twice from 1954-57 and from 1960-63. Cabrera was the third player at his position to win more than one MVP. Schmidt, a former standout at Ohio University, won the award three times in the NL. Alex Rodriguez, a three-time winner in the AL, won two of the awards as a third baseman. Cabrera was the Tigers’ third multi-winner. The others were Newhouser and Hank Greenberg.
Trout became the 12th player to finish second at least two years in a row and the sixth in the AL. The others in addition to Mantle were Lou Gehrig (1931-32), Ted Williams (1941-42), Eddie Murray (1982-83) and Cecil Fielder (1990-91). Stan Musial was the runner-up three years in a row in the NL in 1949, ’50 and ’51. Other back-to-back runners-up in the NL in addition to Pujols were Dizzy Dean (1935-36), Johnny Mize (1939-40), Sandy Koufax (1965-66) and Mike Piazza (1996-97).
The voting (14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system):
2013 AL MVP
| Player, Club | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miguel Cabrera, Tigers | 23 | 7 | 385 | ||||||||
| Mike Trout, Angels | 5 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 282 | ||||
| Chris Davis, Orioles | 1 | 4 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 232 | ||||
| Josh Donaldson, Athletics | 1 | 14 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 222 | |||||
| Robinson Cano, Yankees | 1 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 150 | |||
| Evan Longoria, Rays | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 103 | ||||
| Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 99 | |||
| Adrian Beltre, Rangers | 2 | 8 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 99 | ||||
| Manny Machado, Orioles | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 57 | ||||
| David Ortiz, Red Sox | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 47 | |||
| Jason Kipnis, Indians | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 31 | |||||
| Max Scherzer, Tigers | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 25 | |||||
| Adam Jones, Orioles | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||||||||
| Edwin Encarnacion, Blue Jays | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| Greg Holland, Royals | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Carlos Santana, Indians | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Coco Crisp, Athletics | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| Torii Hunter, Tigers | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Hisashi Iwakuma, Mariners | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Koji Uehara, Red Sox | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Yu Darvish, Rangers | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Felix Hernandez, Mariners | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Salvador Perez, Royals | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Shane Victorino, Red Sox | 1 | 1 |